The Ottawa Community Food Basket is seeing more people needing help even before emergency Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP benefits ended on March 1st. During the pandemic, people using the SNAP program got an extra $95 added to their monthly benefits. They are now back to the normal levels. Executive Director Marissa Vicich says she expects more people to need the food pantry’s help for now. She says the regulations may change, but there will be a large gap.
She says the food pantry is ready for the increasing amount of people. But to be able to help more people the food pantry needs both donations and volunteers.
782 people needed help in January alone. That’s the highest number of people recorded in one month since 2015.