Food banks across Midwestern Ontario say they are assisting more working families as the cost of groceries, housing and other necessities continues to outpace household incomes.
The changing demand is being seen at community food banks in Palmerston and Arthur, as well as by the Huron County Distribution Centre, which supplies food banks and mobile programs across Huron and Perth counties.
The local reports come as public health units across Southwestern Ontario warn that one in four households in the region experienced household food insecurity in 2024, meaning they did not have reliable access to enough food because of financial challenges.
Public health officials say rising housing and living costs are forcing families to choose between groceries, rent and other essential expenses.
At the Arthur Food Bank, president Shawna Laugheed said the number of families served increased by 34 per cent between 2024 and 2026, based on figures covering the first four months of each year.
Laugheed said many of the new clients are families in which both parents or guardians are employed.
"Both parents work. They just need a little bit of extra help," Laugheed said. "Everything is so expensive."
Arthur may be somewhat less expensive than some surrounding communities, but Laugheed said families moving into local rental housing can still face monthly rents of $2,200 to $2,400.
"A lot of them are just trying to support everything, whether that be a roof over their head and food on the table, and maybe putting the kids in a sports program or something like that," she said. "They just need that offset to come to the food bank."
The cost of providing that support is also rising.
The Arthur Food Bank spent $18,577 purchasing food during the first four months of 2024. That increased to $21,785 during the same period in 2025 and $28,206 during the first four months of 2026—an increase of nearly 30 per cent over the past year.
Laugheed said the food bank relies almost entirely on individuals, businesses, schools, service clubs and other community donors, apart from an annual $2,000 municipal grant.
"If our donors stop, whether businesses, individuals, schools, all that kind of stuff, we would have zero dollars in our bank account," she said.
The organization has begun purchasing more products from wholesalers because buying everything locally is becoming too expensive. Laugheed said the Arthur Food Bank could spend close to $90,000 on food this year if its purchasing costs continue at their current pace.
Palmerston Food Bank co-chair Jill Hope is seeing a similar shift in the number and type of households seeking assistance.
During the first six months of 2025, the food bank distributed 552 hampers and served 78 households containing 236 people. Hope said the number of hampers declined to 507 during the first six months of 2026, but the number of households served rose to 116, representing 291 individuals.
"We’re seeing a few more two-income families that are coming periodically, and they are in need," Hope said.
She said the number of employed clients has been rising for at least the past two years.
Some families arrive after an unexpected financial setback, such as a collision or an expensive vehicle repair. Others are gradually falling behind because their regular income is no longer enough to cover rent, food and other monthly expenses.
"Even our one-income families, they’re just finding that the expense of the groceries, it’s just not working every month," Hope said. "The other thing that has gone up is rent."
Most Palmerston Food Bank clients are renters rather than homeowners, she added.
The pressure extends beyond individual food banks.
Chris Allan, executive director of the Huron County Distribution Centre, said the organization has recorded an increase of approximately 29 to 30 per cent across the food banks and programs it supports since he took over the position in May 2025.
"It’s people that are out there doing everything that society tells them, if you do this, you’re going to be okay, but they’re still coming up short," Allan said.
He said many households are one major expense or emergency away from needing assistance.
"A car breaks down and you can’t get to work. What do you do?" Allan said. "Somebody in your family gets ill and you have to take over and try to figure everything else out. What do you do?"
The distribution centre supplies 13 food banks in Huron and Perth counties and operates six mobile food banks from its trucks. Those mobile programs primarily serve communities located more than 15 kilometres from a permanent food bank.
Allan said people living in rural communities may not have a vehicle or another way to reach larger centres such as Goderich.
The organization is able to obtain more recovered food, but Allan said storage, transportation and staffing are limiting how much can be moved into communities.
"I can get as much food as I want, really—as much recovered food as I want," he said. "I’m out of space. It’s the capacity that’s the problem, the capacity and moving the food."
Its trucks are regularly full during deliveries from Monday to Thursday. The organization is also receiving more requests for assistance from Listowel and communities farther north.
Allan said a distribution hub in northern Perth County could reduce travel times and make it easier to serve communities in that part of the region.
"We’re all in the same business of feeding people," he said. "If we work together, then we can actually figure things out and make it a little bit easier on everybody else."
He cautioned that the reported increase only accounts for people willing to approach a food bank.
"When I say that we see a 30 per cent increase, that’s only a 30 per cent increase in the people that are asking for help," Allan said. "There are a lot of people who are too proud to ask for help, so they go without. They go hungry."
The joint public health release says food insecurity is associated with poorer physical and mental health, chronic disease and increased use of the healthcare system. Among children, it can affect concentration, memory, mood and performance at school.
Local affordability calculations found that a single adult receiving Ontario Works could face a monthly deficit of between $301 and $859 after attempting to cover food and rent, depending on where the person lives in Southwestern Ontario.
"Food insecurity impacts people at every stage of life in Huron Perth," Huron Perth Public Health Medical Officer of Health Dr. Miriam Klassen said. "Local trends show that affordability is becoming more of a challenge, leaving many households struggling to keep up."
Public health units are calling for higher social-assistance rates, improved income supports for low- and modest-income households, and policies that reduce housing and other essential living costs.
They say donations and volunteer support remain important but caution that emergency food programs cannot address the underlying cause of household food insecurity on their own.
The food banks say that support is still critical as they respond to immediate local needs.
Hope said the Palmerston Food Bank especially needs donations of pasta, rice, peanut butter, cereal, tomato sauce and children’s snacks. Financial donations allow the organization to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables for its weekly hampers.
"Our community supports us," Hope said. "If we’re ever in need of anything specific, our community is really, really huge in filling those expectations. We’re very thankful for our community."
