The Smiths Falls Community Food Bank has cut off access for residents of Shardon Manor and Victoria House, two private seniors' residences in Lanark County, because those residents already receive meals as part of their rent.
Why the food bank drew the line
Residence costs at Shardon Manor and Victoria House run $59 a day, to a maximum of $1,829 a month, and that fee includes meals. Natalia Soteroff, executive director of the food bank, said the decision to end access for those residents was difficult but reflects the rising costs and increased demand facing food banks right across Canada. The food bank operates on a tight margin by necessity: it receives no government funding from any level of government and relies solely on community donations to keep its shelves stocked.
What seniors are losing
Loretta Ranger, 65, has lived at Shardon Manor for two years and says the meals included in her rent don't stretch far enough. She described the food as repetitive, with small portions that leave her still hungry after eating. For residents like her, the food bank had been a way to fill the gap between what's included in rent and what they actually need to feel fed, and that option is now gone.
The scale of the need
The numbers behind the decision show just how stretched the food bank already is. That demand didn't appear overnight. The Town of Smiths Falls declared food insecurity an emergency back in May 2025, and a council report from that same month found 25.8 per cent of households in the community were facing affordability issues, a figure that put hard data behind what the food bank had been seeing at its doors.
An Ottawa-region problem, not an isolated one
The food bank hasn't announced any plan to reverse the decision or expand its capacity to serve residents at the two residences again. For now, seniors at Shardon Manor and Victoria House will need to rely on the meals included in their rent, repetitive and small as they may be, while the food bank focuses its limited donations on the households that have nowhere else to turn.
Sources: Ottawa Citizen (via Yahoo News Canada), LanarkLeedsToday.ca
