Londoners supply food bank with 3 weeks worth of donations in Thanksgiving drive

London Food Bank says Londoners showed up more to help the city's hungry at the 2025 Thanksgiving Food Drive than last year.

This year's campaign drive focused on the rising number of children and youth experiencing food insecurity. The ongoing trade war between Canada and the United States led to uncertainty around how much Londoners would be able to give, said director Glen Pearson, however it seems that the message managed to strike a chord with the community.

"I think it really motivated the public. We ended up, at the end of the food drive, over last year's total," said Pearson. "It says something about the community. I think they have an awareness of this issue that is maybe more pronounced that we realized."

Londoners gave 82,624 lbs of food, along with $131,165 in monetary donations, making for a total of 118,658 lbs of food to give out. At around 10 lbs per person, or around 11,870 people, that supply should last around three weeks given the food bank serves between 14,000 and 16,000 people a month.

Between food and monetary donations, 2024's total was 109,408 lbs of food.

Sixty per cent of the groceries collected this year will go to other agencies the food bank provides food to, said Pearson. It then has 40 per cent of what's left for its own clientele. It will set aside money to buy more food once that supply runs out, he said.

An anonymous Londoner single-handedly gave $85,000, making up a large portion of this year's monetary donations. In a meeting, the individual said he had been moved by what he had heard in the media about local child hunger, said Pearson.

"It meant a lot to us," he said. "Not so much the amount, although that was really generous. It was the fact that even at the very end of the drive, this person comes forward and from reading these stories, this is how he responds."

The food bank is now gearing up for the holiday season, when it will have its second major drive of the year. This year is feeling tenuous, said Pearson, due to an increase in demand felt by food banks across the province.

Throughout his 40 years on the job, the numbers for need have only gone up, said Pearson. As more city councils declare states of emergencies, it's time for a change in broader policies that would help to prevent hunger in Canada, he said.

"What I loved about this drive is that the public got it," said Pearson. "They understand it's about kids. So they came out and topped it up over last year. The public gets it. Politics has not yet caught on."

According to officials, 12,685 households, including 33,913 individuals, have used the food bank so far in 2025. Of those individuals, 40 per cent are children or youth. Organization Young London is working to better understand the issue, and is conducting surveys and interviews with youth in the community.