A friend came up to me and sat down at the table at the Street Hope meal at Global harvest and stated, “You have to write about all the seniors needing the Food Bank.” I’ll skip the discussion as to why I had to write it instead of him and speak to his concern.

Mr. O wanted me to draw people’s attention to how fast the number of seniors who need the Food Bank in order to eat is growing. There is also growing numbers of seniors eating at the Salvation Army and/or accessing the food distributed there.

Housing costs in Abbotsford are skyrocketing. For seniors owning their own homes property tax increases outstrip available grants. For those who don’t own, rental rates are climbing with increased demand for housing providing an additional boost to soaring rent costs.

To pay for their housing seniors are being forced to reduce what they spend on food and rely more and more on charity to eat.

Compounding these concerns we are beginning to see senior/retirees who not only cannot afford food but also can no longer afford housing. They are ending up in emergency shelters – in shock and lost.

Both hunger and homelessness will continue to grow in the seniors/retirees population – until we as a society choose to say it is unacceptable and act. Volunteering at their local food bank would be a real eye-opening experience for many.

Speak to your family, friends and neighbours; write, talk and demand that our so-called leaders take action; and be a little extra generous to the Food Bank and people such as Street Hope or the Open Door seventh day Adventist church who feed so many hungry.

We may not be seeing hairy caterpillars but all the signs are that this is going to be a cold, wet, hungry winter for many senior, poor and homeless.