'Our loading bays are flooded, our freezer is broken:' North York food bank appeals for help

A massive summer storm which brought flooding to Toronto earlier this week also dealt a blow to one of the city's major food banks.

The North York Harvest Food Bank says it suffered around $50,000 in lost food and damage from the flooding, hampering its ability to provide to those in need.

Natasha Bowes, director of development and marketing for the food bank, told CP24 Thursday that the rain overwhelmed their systems.

"It ended up backing up onto our loading docks. We were trying to rescue the food. The power went out," she said.

The organization tried to transport some of the food to a cold storage facility, but much of it was lost.

"Then while we were trying to save the food that we had in the fridges, we ended up damaging one of our trucks. There was some water damage. So just things built, one over another. Our freezer is already broken. So we're really calling out for the community to help us right now."

The food bank issued an urgent appeal after the damage.

"Our loading bays are flooded, our freezer is broken, and water is pouring into our warehouse," the group said on its website. "The power outage caused us to lose a significant amount of refrigerated food, including milk, cheese, meat, and nutritious kids snacks intended to nourish our community."

They are calling for cash donations to help with the recovery, as well as canned goods.

"They can drop it off at their local fire stations. We have donation boxes at grocery stores across North York, and also here at 116 Industry Street," Bowes said.

She pointed out that the food bank has seen a high level of usage in the community recently, so the timing is difficult.

"The cost of food, inflation, rent in Toronto is just absolutely insane – so the amount of people that are coming, it was a record month for us," Bowes said. "We've never seen this many people come through the doors and it just keeps going up and up."