Rising cost of diesel fuel hurting the Daily Bread Food Bank

The food bank is also receiving extra body blows from other sectors of the economy, straining as the cost of food continues to increase

Published Oct 01, 2026  •  Last updated 25 minutes ago  •  2 minute read

Daily Bread Food Bank CEO Neil Hetherington (left) shows Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre around the facility during a visit to the Daily Bread Food Bank in the Etobicoke area of Toronto on Friday April 19, 2024. Photo by Ernest Doroszuk/Toronto Sun/Postmedia

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Consistent and increasing diesel gas prices are adversely hurting every sector of the economy, including one of Toronto’s food banks.

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“We had to spend $22,000 extra dollars because of the price of diesel going from $2 to about 2.50 per litre,” Neil Hetherington, CEO of the Daily Bread Food Bank, told the Toronto Sun. “Every dollar we spend really equates to about a pound of food, which equates to a meal.”

Every week the food bank truck fleet delivers more than one million pounds of food to over 200 food programs across the city. Between March and August of this year, the food bank spent more than $22,000 on diesel fuel than it did for the same volume of fuel during the same period last year.

Diesel prices are expected to reach approximately $2.589 per litre in Toronto come Friday.

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The food bank is also receiving extra body blows from other sectors of the economy, straining as the cost of food continues to increase.

“That has two effects,” Hetherington said. “When more people can’t afford to shop for groceries, they come to the food bank. Then we have to spend more to feed more people.”

The warehouse at the Daily Bread Food Bank at the Etobicoke facility. Photo by Ernest Doroszuk/Toronto Sun/Postmedia

300,000 vists per month

Hetherington says 1 in 10 people in Toronto access the Daily Bread. That equates to approximately 300,000 visits across the city every month.

“I’m very concerned about it, but I’m going to hold on to hope,” Hetherington said. “Those who struggle the most in this type of economic environment are those who can afford it the least.”

Hetherington said the food bank is currently making a city-wide Thanksgiving push for monetary donations.

The CEO said they have raised about $1.8 million. The goal is $5 million.

“I’m hopeful that people will recognize enormous pressures that people are feeling in the city and that they’ll recognize how daily bread is assisting that, and if they’re able to, that they’ll be able to support us as we go through this difficult time,” he said.

Toronto diesel prices in 2026. Photo by Toronto Sun illustration

Food bank visits increase as food cost rises

Hetherington revealed more sobering numbers going back seven years.

“We used to spend $1.5 million a year buying food,” Hetherington said, referring to their 2019 numbers. “Now, we spend $24 million a year buying food.”

And as the cost of food increases, generally, year on year, the visits to the food bank have increased in lock step.

“It’s frightening. It’s horrific,” Hetherington said. “We used to serve 60,000 people per month. Now, that number is over 300,000 per month.”

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