In this instalment of My Ottawa Life, Erin Benjamin shares her favourite lunch and retail spots, some of the best music venues and local artists on the scene, and the itinerary for an ideal day in Ottawa.
TORONTO Canadian charities and food banks are struggling to help the millions of vulnerable citizens who are relying on their services more than ever. Nearly 70 per cent of Canadian charities are dealing with a drop in donations and 70 per cent have fewer volunteers compared to the start of the pandemic. “What we’ve seen just from a numbers perspective in Toronto, is about 65,000 clients visits every single month pre-pandemic, and that number has skyrocketed to over 110,000 every single month,” Neil Hetherington, CEO of Daily Bread Food Bank in Toronto. Last year, Canadians donated $17 billion to charities, but this year they could see up to a 37-per-cent drop in donations due to the pandemic.