Full Podcast: https://lovethenorth.ca/article/260919-northern-ontario-food-bank-crisis Natalie from the Sudbury Food Bank and David from Harvest Algoma in Sault Ste. Marie discuss the growing food insecurity crisis across Northern Ontario — and how dramatically the demand for help is increasing. In Sudbury, Natalie says the number of new people entering the food bank system grew from 572 in the first quarter to more than 1,800, while Harvest Algoma reports demand running about 34% higher than the same time last year. But one of the biggest misconceptions is who actually needs food banks. The people asking for help are increasingly working families, seniors, students, and people struggling to keep up with the rising cost of living. Many are working, sometimes more than one job, but still cannot stretch their income far enough to cover housing, utilities, transportation, and groceries. The conversation also goes behind the scenes of what it takes to keep Northern food banks supplied — moving hundreds of thousands of pounds of food, supporting smaller rural food banks, rescuing usable food before it reaches landfill, and finding ways to make every donation stretch further. In Sudbury alone, roughly 450,000 pounds of food were diverted from landfill last year and redirected toward people who could use it. And the need doesn't disappear after Christmas. People are hungry twelve months of the year. This is no longer simply a conversation about food banks — it is a conversation about affordability, wages, the cost of living, and how many Northern Ontario families are finding themselves one unexpected expense away from needing help putting food on the table. #FoodBank #FoodInsecurity #SudburyFoodBank #HarvestAlgoma #Sudbury #SaultSteMarie #NorthernOntario #CostOfLiving #CommunitySupport #LoveTheNorth