A Windsor food bank is re-opening Monday, after it had an “amazing” change of fortune in just 24 hours last week.
The Windsor Homes Coalition food bank had never shut its doors in 45 years, until last Thursday.
“All we had left in our food bank was a loaf of bread and a can of tomato juice,” says Windsor Homes tenant advocate Shirley Beaton.
But after word got out, donations started pouring in—starting Friday morning.
Beaton says that’s when members of the Windsor Muslim Community Association showed up with a “truck full of food” and a $5,000 check.
“And they said that any time we think we’re running low, before we get so low, give them a call and they’ll come out and help as much as they can,” says Beaton.
Since then, donations big and small have poured in there and at other Windsor food pantries, which have also had trouble keeping shelves stocked in recent months.
“There’s both increased demand and low supply,” Beaton says. “In the last three or four months, we’ve noticed an increase. “A lot of other food banks in the city are also struggling. And there’s not much that we can do if [donations] aren’t coming in.”
But in the meantime, the Windsor-Essex community seems to have responded. “It’s been amazing,” Beaton says.
