In 2018, Vivian worked full-time at a law firm in office administration. She answered phones, stocked the kitchen, ran errands at the bank.
But then her hips started acting up. Her osteoarthritis flared and it began interfering with her work.
“I couldn’t perform my duties,” she said. “I had to walk with a cane. I couldn’t go to the grocery store and carry groceries back for meetings, I couldn’t go to the bank…and that was part of my position.”
She had to leave her job, and the pain made it difficult to find another. In fact, her osteoarthritis grew so severe she had to get both of her hips replaced, while at the same time battling growing numbness and discomfort from diabetes-caused neuropathy in her feet and fingers. To make matters worse, three years ago she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, further limiting her mobility. Now she walks with a walker. “I can only walk a block before I have to sit,” she said.
Today, her main source of income is the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP). That, plus an additional government subsidy, gives her just enough to cover her rent and essential bills. But food is “a luxury.”
That’s why she started going to one of Daily Bread Food Bank’s member agencies. Although the trip itself is a challenge — she needs to schedule roundtrip transportation and coordinate with a friend to carry her food — she highly values the fresh produce she gets there. And if the package of fruits or vegetables she receives is too much for her household of one, she shares it with her neighbours. “The building I live in has a lot of lower income people and seniors,” she said. “So when I get home, I split it up and I say ‘meet me, meet me!’ and I give it to other people I know could use it.”
The food bank has also helped Vivian with warm winter clothing, which otherwise would be a large expense on her fixed income.
She said she wishes elected officials would see what it’s like to live on ODSP. In fact, once she spoke to one at an event: “I said, would you come and live in my apartment for a month, on what I have to live on, and pay my bills? And you tell me what you need at the end of the month after you’ve done that.”
A single individual on ODSP receives $1,368 per month, putting them about a thousand dollars below Toronto’s poverty line of $2,397. It’s unsurprising that nearly 3 in 10 Toronto food bank clients report social assistance as their main form of income (Who’s Hungry 2024). These income supports are inadequate to ensure food access. That’s why Daily Bread is calling on the government to strengthen the Canada Disability Benefit, so Canadians with disabilities don’t have to turn to food banks to access the food they need.
In the meantime, Vivian is grateful for Daily Bread Food Bank. Without it, she said she doesn’t know what she would do: “I’d have to say, okay, I’ve got $10, what can I do with $10 for five days, what can I eat?”
To fund emergency food programs that serve clients like Vivian, donate today.
