Neighbourhood groups and schools also gathered 53 thousand pounds of non-perishable food
CBC News · Posted: Jan 10, 2023, 1:03 PM EST | Last Updated: January 11.

CBC’s annual Sounds of the Season fundraiser for Ontario food banks raised more than a million dollars in 2022.

Of that total, $836,913 was donated in the Greater Toronto Area while another $188,890 was raised in Windsor, Kitchener-Waterloo, London, Hamilton, Kingston, Sudbury and Thunder Bay.

This year, on the 20th anniversary of the fundraiser, Sounds of the Season also expanded its community activities with donation events in Toronto and Pickering and food drives in communities across the GTA.

54 schools and 43 neighbourhood groups participated in the food drives, collecting 53 thousand pounds (or 24 thousand kilograms) of non-perishable food.

“The power of Sounds of the Season is that it reminds us of how much better we are when we come together as a community,” said Ruth Zowdu, Senior Managing Director of CBC Ontario.

“This year, CBC audiences dug deep to give what they could to help their neighbours put food on the table. We’re so grateful for their generosity and the difference each donation will make for someone in Ontario,” said Zowdu.

Food banks across Ontario say the number of people using their services has grown dramatically since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Toronto’s Daily Bread Food Bank, one of the largest in the country, used to see 60,000 monthly visits before the pandemic.

It’s now expecting 250,000 visits each month by the middle of 2023 as inflation and high interest rates impact peoples’ ability to buy their own food.

“Since 2021, the percentage of employed individuals who are accessing food banks has doubled from 16% to 33%,” said Neil Hetherington, the CEO of the Daily Bread Food Bank.

In order to meet the increased demand, Hetherington said the food bank is now purchasing 10 times more food than it did prior to the pandemic.

“The support from CBC’s Sounds of the Season fundraiser is crucial to helping us meet this dramatic surge,” said Hetherington.