Category Archives: food banks

09.06.25
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Working together ‘on highly collaborative initiatives that support the community’s aim of functionally ending homelessness in the coming years’

A good portion of city council’s attention at Tuesday’s (Sept. 2) meeting was devoted to housing and homelessness initiatives and funding.
Which meant Danielle Neilson, Housing Stability Services Manager, fielded a significant number of questions from the mayor and council.
She authored the St. Thomas-Elgin 10 Year Housing and Homelessness Plan: 2024 Progress Report, which sees city staff and community partners “work together on highly collaborative initiatives that support the community’s aim of functionally ending homelessness in the coming years.”
We briefly touched on this report last week regarding the city’s emergency shelter, The INN.

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09.14.24
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The St. Thomas Elgin Food Bank: ‘Some days we all feel like we’re drowning’

Over one million Ontario residents last year visited a food bank. That indicator of a surging affordability crisis in the province was contained in data released this past Tuesday (Sept. 10) by Feed Ontario.
Digging further into the report, food banks in the province were visited 7.6 million times over the year, an increase of 134 per cent from 2019-20.
It marks an all-time high and the eighth straight year an increase has been recorded.
Feed Ontario unites food banks, industry partners and communities as it strives to end poverty and hunger.
“When we released record-breaking data last year, we thought that was the high-water mark,” advised Feed Ontario CEO Carolyn Stewart.

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08.10.24
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‘She did it the right way’ – former MP Joe Preston’s take on Karen Vecchio’s representation in Elgin-Middlesex-London

In announcing at the end of July she would not seek re-election, MP Karen Vecchio praised St. Thomas Mayor Joe Preston as someone who “will always be one of my confidants.”
And, speaking with Preston this week, he reciprocated with a quip he has laid on me more than once.
“I took five minutes and taught her everything I know.”
While it is generally acknowledged she first got a taste of politics working in Preston’s constituency office, the former Elgin-Middlesex-London MP reminded me that Vecchio’s introduction to political representation goes back even further.
Many years ago she went door-to-door campaigning for Bill Aarts as he sought a seat on St. Thomas municipal council.

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01.23.21
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A caring environment in a stable, permanent home is the foundation for transformation in people’s lives

city_scope_logo-cmykThis past Monday was a busy day for Mayor Joe Preston as he noted the city was able to undertake a decade’s worth of work in a day.
Preston was referring to the city’s three-year strategic plan setting out priorities, guiding principles, goals and commitments as laid out at the Dec. 14 reference committee meeting.
One of the pillars of that plan is creation of a compassionate community and the commitment to build an emergency shelter for the homeless. It is to be constructed in a single location and be open by September of this year.
Well on Monday the city released a blueprint as it moves forward on its compassionate community strategic objective.
It’s a sweeping paper with many more objectives than just a homeless shelter.
The most immediate action point involves the city entering into a memorandum of understanding with Indwell Community Homes to develop supportive housing projects.

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02.11.17
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More sensitivity and less stunt when reaching out to the homeless

city_scope_logo-cmykThe promotion was called Sleepless In Our City, a well-intentioned fundraiser for the United Way of Elgin-St. Thomas. In capsule form, former MP Joe Preston and Tim Smart, the regional sales manager for a couple of local radio stations, were going to bundle up and spend the night sleeping – if possible – in the back seat of their respective cars. In the case of Tim, a Honda Civic.
(Full disclosure here, I spent several years as a volunteer on the United Way campaign cabinet and the entire team is to be applauded for raising in excess of $485,000 in this year’s campaign, as announced Friday evening.)
The media release from the United Way noted, “In Elgin St. Thomas, 20% of home owners and 42% of renters were spending more than 30% of their household income on shelter costs.”

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01.03.15
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That was the year that was, in words

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After an enjoyable Christmas and New Year’s hiatus, City Scope returns with a tradition dating back to 2005, when we welcomed the incoming year by casting a final glance back to focus on the wit and wisdom served up by some of those individuals who graced this corner over the previous 365 days.

Since that debut, we have broadened our horizon to include quotes from a variety of sources, including Times-Journal readers.

As an unabashed collector of quotes, this flashback is an enviable task that neatly ties the preceding 12 months into a compact package to open and savor at the demise of another year.

And, as American writer and editor Daniel Okrent deftly observed, “I’m afraid we’ll see reporters stop chasing quotes around the same time dogs stop chasing cars.”
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03.08.14
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Always room for one more in this club

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The city’s most exclusive club saw its membership increase by four in 2013. We’re talking about the Sunshine Club at city hall — those employees who earned $100,000 or more under public sector salary disclosure.
Mind you, it was a modest increase from 58 select members in 2012 to 62 this past year.
A far cry from the door-crashing rush in 2012 when the rolls swelled to 58 from 39 in 2011.
Breaking the numbers down, in 2013 city administration counted 14 in the Sunshine Club, up from 13 the year previous.
The police department enrolment actually declined by one — from 17 to 16.
At the fire halls, the ranks increased to 32 in 2013 from 28 in 2012. That means the fire department membership is greater than the police and city administration combined.
Concentrating on administration salaries only, the top wage-earner last year was CAO Wendell Graves at $165,900, which is actually down from a year ago at $166,315. Continue reading →

03.05.14
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Caring Cupboard executive director removed from post by board of directors

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Exactly one week after an emotionally charged meeting at The Caring Cupboard, the board of the Talbot St. foodbank has released its executive director from her contract.

Board chairman Ward Houghton told the Times-Journal the board of directors did not feel Janice Kinnaird “was the right fit for the role” and she was advised of the decision Monday.

“She was still in her probationary period and the board thought it was prudent to exercise its discretion to implement that section of her contract,” advised Houghton.
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03.01.14
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How much can you milk out of nickels and dimes?

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After documenting the plight of a desperate young mother and her plea for milk and bread to tide her over until the end of the month, we talked to her this week on the heels of Monday’s annual general meeting at The Caring Cupboard.
The ten or so board members, concerned clients of the food bank and representatives from several community agencies who attended the session agreed on one thing: there are issues at the Talbot St. operation in the manner in which data is collected and the perceived humiliating fashion in which some individuals are treated.
One user went so far as to warn The Caring Cupboard “has lost its credibility.”
One positive recommendation – it’s time for the food bank and the various community organizations to build partnerships to deal with individuals whose daily needs require the expertise available through a cross-section of service providers.
The mother, whose plea sparked an outpouring of emotion from readers and individuals facing an all-too-similar future, vented her frustration with the process she believed had been followed to the letter. Continue reading →