Hunger in Waterloo region

Today, 1 in 8 households in Waterloo region is struggling to afford food—just three years ago, it was 1 in 20. That’s a 150 per cent increase.


Our Community Food Assistance Network partners are providing food to more than 73,600 people, which represents a 25 per cent increase over 2023. Among them, about 25,000 children.

Visits to food hamper programs have also spiked, up by 24 per cent, with many people returning for help more often, some as many as eight times or more.  

In 2024, there were over 558,000 visits to local food hamper programs, compared to 450,000 just a year earlier.  

Feeding Waterloo region

The Food Bank of Waterloo Region functions as a distribution centre, so we don’t give out food directly from our location. Instead, we support the Community Food Assistance Network to acquire and distribute a variety of fresh, frozen, and non-perishable food to the 54 organizations in the Community Food Assistance Network that provide direct food support to people in Waterloo region accessing food assistance.

Between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024:

• We distributed 8.9 million pounds of food to the 54 organizations in the Community Food Assistance Network.  59 per cent of food distributed to the Network was fresh or frozen.
• Our Network partners distributed 186,000 food hampers to people in our community. That is up 23 per cent over last year.  
• Our Network partners served 1.2 million community meals to people in need. That is 38 per cent more meals than last year.

The need: What we’re seeing in Waterloo region

Between January 1 and March 31, 2025:

• 1,059 households accessed a food assistance program for the first time, a 45% decrease compared to the same quarter in 2024.
• 13,254 unique households accessed a food assistance program, a 4% decrease compared to the same quarter in 2024.
• 37,282 unique individuals supported by the Community Food Assistance Network, a 2% increase over the same quarter in 2024.
• 48,488 hampers distributed to community members, a 3% increase over the same quarter in 2024.
• 306,723 meals provided to community members, a 5% increase compared to the same quarter in 2024.

Want to learn more about hunger in Waterloo region and how we’re working to address food insecurity? Check out our 2024 Community Impact report.