Feds double pandemic aid for food banks

 Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Ottawa is doubling pandemic aid for the nation's food banks today.

Another $100 million is being added to the Emergency Food Security Fund so food banks and Indigenous organizations can keep putting food on the table for Canadians struggling to make ends meet during the pandemic.

That follows the $100 million that started that fund in April.

The first phase of the program funded 1,800 projects, providing an estimated six million meals to two million Canadians. The financial turmoil caused for families by the pandemic left one in seven Canadian homes without enough food to eat in May.

Trudeau participated in a virtual town hall with food-bank operators Thursday night where he said he understands that as Thanksgiving and Christmas approach, food banks will be under more pressure to feed those who can't afford groceries, or are unable or afraid to venture outside their homes to get them.