The holiday season is supposed to be a joyful season, but for far too many, it serves as a reminder that they’re struggling to make ends meet, to put food on the table.

We have a lot of great organizations working in Hamilton to support people faced with food insecurity, but the situation is becoming dire.

Hamilton Food Share says an estimated 11,000 house-holds will likely reach out at Christmas alone. This will be the largest number in the program’s history.

Food4Kids, a food relief program for children, has been forced to implement a triage system to make sure that the most at-risk children are still getting food because of rising food costs. This program delivers food to roughly 1,400 students across 75 schools in Hamilton every week. Food4Kids is doing a great service to our community, but this year has been hard. Director Cathy Haan shared on 900 CHML earlier this week that they are seeing more requests than they ever have and that they have had to start a wait-list.

Programs like Hamilton Food Share and Food4Kids are filling the gap for this government, but they won’t be able to fill it for too much longer. Community programs cannot be the backbone of the food insecurity crisis. Families are going hungry.

This holiday season, I’m asking the Premier and his government to think of these families, think of these children who are on wait-lists for food, and do something about it.

Again to the Premier: My office is working with three families facing similar struggles. Each of them has a child who is self-harming and has made multiple suicide attempts and is violent at home. These families have been told that their children’s needs are too complex for community program options, but they can’t get in-patient care. One family has been waiting months to hear about a placement in Hamilton or Niagara. The second family is waiting to go on a wait-list, if a residential treatment option can be found. The third child was placed in a group home and is now using and living on the street.

Will this government commit to providing appropriate treatment options in London for children with some of the highest mental health needs?