With food prices on the rise and a global pandemic leading to job losses, many households across the country are struggling to feed their families.

"Pre-pandemic, estimates were that 1 in 8 Canadians were food insecure, meaning they didn't have enough money to buy food that would prevent them from being hungry, that would allow them to provide hospitality, and support their health and families," Karen Giesbrecht, a registered dietician explains. " The last estimate I heard, we think now it's 1 in 7 Canadians that are food insecure, which is a significant impact on our personal health and our social health. It would also affect our spiritual health."  

Giesbrecht says those who are most impacted are those with precarious work, such as those in restaurant jobs, cleaners, new immigrants, immigrant women, students and those who are unable to take time off work because they don't have sick pay.

"Getting to know our neighbours, knowing those who struggle, making this issue personal, not just a statistic, probably makes the biggest difference," says Giesbrecht.

Throughout the pandemic, Karen has noticed that it has been the churches, neighbourhood houses and small community programs that are stepping up and helping out.

"I think the work that churches do is significant," said Karen. "We have caring communities, we've got budgets that we want to spend on supporting our neighbours who are in need. We've got kitchens, we've got big open foyers where we can bring people in safely during our different distancing recommendations. Anything that we can do to support our neighbours who are struggling, every meal matters, every bag of grocery matters, every good cup of coffee matters."

Karen says we also need to recognize that churches, food banks and community meals won't end hunger. 

"They don't pull somebody out of poverty. But, as we get to know people, when we're on a first-name basis with those in our neighbourhood who struggle, then we're going to understand some of the challenges, and we're going to use the resources we can to advocate and invest in what happens."

 A lot of churches have felt hopeless through the pandemic, but Karen says this is a great way to get to know our neighbours and to start serving those in need.

Today on Connections, Karen shares a bit about the situation when it comes to food insecurity in Canada, how the church is helping and how we can start looking at food from a different perspective.