OTTAWA – An Ottawa community organization says it will need to cut back on its food program for local residents if it is unable to secure more funds after COVID-19 relief programs came to an end.
The Caldwell Family Centre, which says it served almost 95,000 meals in 2022, was able to secure emergency funding from various sources during the pandemic, including from the Ontario government.
That provincial COVID-19 relief fund is coming to an end for many organizations next month.
The centre says it has also struggled with inflation and rising food prices, and though municipal funding has stayed steady, those dollars aren’t stretching as far.
Executive director Marilyn Matheson says that many people the organization serves will be in trouble if it can’t secure more funding, and negotiations with the city are underway.
The City of Ottawa says that the amount of money going toward community services has remained consistent, and its 2023 draft budget projects spending the same amount in the coming fiscal year.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 3, 2023.
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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.
