Minden Community Food Centre (MCFC) manager Jean Munroe said things have never been busier at the Newcastle Street pantry, reporting an 18 per cent increase in demand through the first quarter of 2025, with Tina Jackson from Central Food Network reporting similar activity in Highlands East.

The figureheads from two of the County’s three major food bank operations told The Highlander, in an April 18 interview, that there’s been a “non-stop surge” in numbers stretching back to 2019.

According to Munroe, that’s putting considerable stress on the Minden food bank’s staff, volunteers, and bottom line. In 2024, the operation served 3,248 people, averaging 271 visits per month. Through January, February and March that total had reached 966 people – or 322 per month.

“It’s been six years of increase after increase after increase. I haven’t seen demand go down yet,” said Munroe, who celebrated her third year with the operation in February. “The big issue I’m hearing from people is rent. People are struggling to make ends meet and keep a roof over their head. Unfortunately, food is one of the first things people opt to go without.”

The recent ice storm had an impact, with some clients telling Munroe they lost all their frozen and refrigerated foods due to the prolonged power outage.

Jump in the Lake foodbank fundraiser set for May 17

After seeing just over 3,000 visits in 2023 – the first time the Minden hub crossed that annual threshold, Munroe said she’s preparing to hit another new milestone this year. With economic uncertainty stemming from the Canada-U.S. trade war, she feels things may get worse for those struggling before it gets better.

So, she and the MCFC board have decided to pivot. Beginning in mid-March, staff started sending clients home with three weeks’ worth of food, rather than the usual four, allowing the needy to visit more frequently.

It’s the second major transition in the past eight months, after the food bank, last summer, increased the amount of food people get each visit.

“We’re seeing the crunch everywhere – food is flying off our shelves faster than ever before. Trying to keep up with that is bringing its own challenges right now,” Munroe said, noting when she started the operation spent about $3,500 a month on food. Now, its bill is more than double that.

As a result, Munroe said the food bank is heavily reliant on community donations. More bins were set up across Minden last fall, which has helped keep non-perishables stocked – with 8,710 pounds collected so far this year.

Proteins and produce are more limited, though Monroe said some businesses, like Coneybeare’s Butcher Shop, have established programs where people can purchase things at cost, which is then donated.

“We’re getting lots of ground beef, which has been amazing,” Munroe said.

She’s also looking forward to the community garden at the fairgrounds reopening, which also helps.

Surging demand

Last year, CFN saw 4,128 visits to its food banks in Cardiff and Wilberforce, averaging 343 stops per month. Those numbers have increased slightly in early 2025, with CFN seeing 336 visits in January and 361 in February.

Compared to pre-pandemic levels, Jackson estimates the operation is serving an additional 57 people – or 100 extra monthly visits. The Wilberforce food bank assisted 25 more households this January compared to last, with an additional 19 in February. In Cardiff, five new households were welcomed in January and seven in February.

CFN also distributed over 900 frozen meals to people in January and February through its Community Cooks program.

“Poverty in Canada is spiraling out of control. In the last five years, visits to Canadian food banks have almost doubled,” Jackson said.

In 2023, CFN was able to buy a cargo van, which Jackson said has allowed the local food banks to access reserves from bigger facilities in Belleville, Peterborough, and Lindsay. Last year, that brought 235,299 pounds of food valued at approximately $750,000 to the County.

That’s brought the facility’s monthly food spend way down, with Jackson saying CFN spent $2,200 in January. Before, she said they would have spent “considerably more.”

While she didn’t have numbers, Judy MacDuff, who runs the 4Cs Food Bank in Haliburton, said demand has been “a lot higher” through the first quarter of the year. She registered four new clients in a single day April 17.

In 2024, the site registered 2,213 visits, assisting 2,726 adults and 1,109 children, which MacDuff said was up from 2023.

“We need to see food prices come down and incomes go up… if it wasn’t for the Lily Ann, we wouldn’t be able to operate [at current levels]. It pays for our rent, heat, hydro and other things we need,” MacDuff said. “Donations [to the food bank] go directly to purchase food.”

Jump in

MCFC and CFN are partnering again this year for Jump in the Lake, scheduled for May 17. The annual event challenges people to get pledges before jumping in a local waterbody on the day.

It raised $11,500 last year, with Jackson hoping to eclipse that total this time around. As of press time, MCFC has 12 people registered, raising $2,000, with CFN at nine participants and $1,950 raised.

This will be the first time Jump in the Lake doesn’t run alongside the same-named Coboconk initiative, which happens May 3.

Munroe said this was done to try and encourage more cottagers to get involved. There will also be prizes for top individual fundraisers, Jackson noted. Munroe said she’ll be taking a dip in the Gull River this year, with Jackson diving into Halls Lake.

“We want this to be fun – something people can have a little competition with. Our organizations are facing lots of challenges and struggles right now. So get together, talk to your neighbours, form a team and help make a positive impact in our community,” Jackson said.

They will soon have strong mayor powers, but Dysart et al’s Murray Fearrey and Minden Hills’ Bob Carter are still figuring out what that means for them and their townships.

On April 9, Ontario proposed to expand strong mayor powers to 169 additional municipalities effective May 1.

The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing said the expansion “reflects Ontario’s commitment to streamline local governance and help ensure municipalities have the tools they need to reduce obstacles that can stand in the way of new housing and infrastructure development.”

The powers will allow heads of councils of six members or more “to support shared provincial-municipal priorities, such as encouraging the approval of new housing and constructing and maintaining infrastructure to support housing, including roads and transit,” the ministry said.

Dysart et al and Minden Hills have seven councillors, while Algonquin Highlands and Highlands East five.

Rob Flack, minister of municipal affairs and housing, said by extending strong mayor powers to these additional municipalities, “we are providing mayors every tool at our disposal to empower them to get homes and infrastructure built faster. Mayors know their municipalities best, and we support them in taking bold actions for their communities.”

Ontario’s strong mayor powers, initially introduced for Toronto and Ottawa in 2022, have been gradually rolled out across the province. There are 47 municipalities in Ontario with these enhanced powers, which the province says has helped to cut red tape and accelerate the delivery of key priorities in their communities.

“These enhanced powers come with increased accountability for heads of council and maintain essential checks and balances through the oversight of councillors,” the ministry said.

Fearrey said he’s just learning what it all means but, “it’s not going to change the way I operate in terms of being involved with staff hiring, and things like that. I’ve always been involved. I think it’s important that it be a team effort.”

He believes, “it’s going to help us on some of the planning issues; to free things up and make it a little bit easier to get housing started because we need to do that desperately. It should help us leverage provincial funding for some of these projects because it’s all about getting some housing built, getting some rental units out there. If we have a proposal, I think it’ll go a long way to disposition now. I think it’s going to help.”

Fearrey said one reservation he has is, “when you make one move, are you going to make that move all the time? That’s the dangerous part of shifting away from policy.”

Carter said the news caught Minden Hills by surprise, finding out when the minister made the announcement last week. They’ve only briefly looked at the implications.

He wants more clarity on the fact Minden Hills, and Dysart, work with the County of Haliburton. “We have Dysart and Minden, who have these powers, but the County does not and our plans are tied into the County. We need to be able to clarify and figure that out.”

He sees a benefit in things such as being able to move official plans ahead faster.

“The primary thing is … hopefully good news that we can use the power to help the community.”

Strong mayor powers and duties include:

• Choosing to appoint the municipality’s CAO.

• Hiring certain municipal department heads and establishing and re-organizing departments.

• Creating committees of council, assigning their functions and appointing the chairs and vice-chairs of committees of council.

• Proposing the municipal budget, which would be subject to council amendments and a separate head of council veto and council override process.

• Proposing certain municipal bylaws if the mayor thinks the proposed bylaw could potentially advance a provincial priority. Council can pass these bylaws if more than one-third of council members vote in favour.

• Vetoing certain bylaws if the head of council thinks all or part of the bylaw could potentially interfere with a provincial priority.

• Bringing forward matters for council consideration if the head of council thinks considering the matter could potentially advance a provincial priority.

A new program designed to match County residents dealing with substance abuse issues and mental health challenges with people who have lived experience overcoming them now has a home base in Haliburton village.

Coming Full Circle is a two-year pilot that aims to change the narrative around supporting people in crisis, says David Barkley, project lead. He recently secured a space at 83 Maple Ave., Unit 7 of the Halco Plaza. The next step is hiring a team of seven peer support specialists who, he hopes, can get to work making a difference in the community.

He’s expecting the program to fully launch in late May or early June. “This is going to be a unique approach to supporting people – there will be oneon-one, drop-in, casual and insert-type programming. It’s all about fostering connections and finding ways to communicate with people,” Barkley said.

“We want to improve the resources in this community and be seen as a place where anyone can come for support, instead of being just another name or group that people don’t want to use.”

It’s a collaboration between Point in Time, Canadian Mental Health Association Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge (CMHA HKPR), and several organizations representing the Haliburton County Connections Committee. It was made possible by a $800,000 grant from Canada’s Substance Use and Addictions Program.

Barkley has 22 years of experience working in the field, most recently with the Lynx Early Psychosis Intervention Program. He said he’s seen the peer support model “become a little more accepted” in recent years, believing it’s the key to unlocking doors, and barriers, for people needing support.

Breaking it down more, he said the program isn’t meant to attract professionals with fancy degrees or diplomas to serve in lead roles, opting instead for “real life” experience.

“We want a full complement of peers. We want people who are in different stages of their own recovery journey, because we want everyone to be able to learn from one another.

“Ultimately, we believe lived experience is lived expertise. If people have been there and it’s true, exposure to substance use and addictions, it helps foster connections with people just starting out on their own healing journey. They didn’t read it in a book, they didn’t go to school to learn about it. It’s genuine, firsthand knowledge. That’s the kind of thing that helps break down barriers, that people can connect with,” Barkley said.

All staff will be trained once hired and before meeting with would-be clients, on things like non-violent crisis intervention, verbal support, and communication techniques. Barkley said he’s still looking for candidates – pay is above market rate, for 21 hours a week.

He expects the drop-in centre will be open up to three days a week, though said that may change as the program develops.

Asked if he had a sense for how prevalent the drug crisis is in Haliburton County, and what the program expects to do numbers wise, Barkley said he’s less focused on statistics.

“We know it is an issue, but it’s an issue everywhere. It’s been expressed the County can really use some additional resources… it’s something that’s impacting a lot of people in the community,” he said. “Our goal is to improve things. If that’s one person at a time, that’s OK with me. Now is the time, I think, to try some different things… because the usual ways and models haven’t been working.

“We’re wanting to see people who have maybe connected with supports before, but it didn’t quite work for them. And it doesn’t just have to be drugs and mental health – we’re hoping people who have issues around food insecurity, housing and homelessness come to us as well so we can help them and maybe improve connections to other resources once people have developed a level of trust.”

If they can get a foothold, Barkley believes Coming Full Circle can change the way other agencies work and operate, too.

“This peer support approach can be effective, but it isn’t being utilized a whole lot. It’s going to take unique, almost outside the box ways of thinking and connecting to make a difference. We’ll be evaluating ourselves all the time to make sure we’re hitting the right mark, and hope to share what’s working for us with others,” Barkley said.

For more information, or to apply, visit cmhahkpr.ca/careers.

For as long as Highlands East teenager Veronica Beynon can remember she’s always dreamed of writing and producing movies, TV shows and stage plays – now her fantasy is set to become reality thanks to Highlands Opera Studio (HoS).

The Hal High victory lapper was recently announced as one of five storytellers for the studio’s upcoming Let’s Make an Opera production. The year-long pilot project is being overseen by Valerie Kuinka, HoS lead, and three other mentors – Lauren Margison, Danika Loren, and Michael Murphy.

The goal is to create a professional play based on stories, historical happenings and life experiences in Haliburton County. Fellow County residents Marci Mandel, Meghan Mardus, Jack Simpson and Janet Trull will also have stories featured for the opera, which will premiere later this year.

Beynon’s was one of the last of 14 submissions received, with the student telling The Highlander she quickly put a proposal together after learning about the project through Melissa Stephens, a retired teacher and conductor with Highlands Festival Singers.

“It was actually a week before the final due date – I went into researching some old newspaper clippings from a long time ago to find some fun historical facts I could try to build an opera around,” Beynon said.

She read up on the County’s rich history of logging and found accounts of land disputes between original settlers in Haliburton and those who arrived following the completion of the Victoria Railway in 1878.

After stumbling upon the works of Ontario author Larry D. Cotton, renowned for his Whiskey and Wickedness series that spans 30 books, she settled on a comedic scene involving two men arguing in a fictional County-based bar. Her story is a simple one, involving one other character, a bartender.

“One of the funny recurring themes through all my research was about these almost like duels going on in the bars. Because people were intoxicated, they were forced to take the bullets out of their guns before being served. So I thought it would be really fun to play with the idea of a shootout almost happening in a bar, only for all the suspense and build-up to lead to nothing,” Beynon said, noting it will feature callbacks to key historical moments.

She’s collaborating on the piece with Bill Gliddon, a man almost 70 years her elder. An organist at St. George’s Anglican Church for 63 years and retired music teacher, Gliddon said he jumped at the opportunity to assist Beynon by composing music for her story.

The pair met for the first time in late March to go over ideas. Gliddon said they connected instantly.

“I liked her story, I thought it was funny. Then I thought to myself how refreshing it would be working with someone so young, the intergenerational creativity we could each bring to the project,” said Gliddon, who also submitted a story but wasn’t selected.

Following that first meeting, he provided Beynon with seven musical numbers she could take away to style her words for. A week later, she sent back almost a complete libretto – essentially the manuscript for an opera. That inspired Gliddon, who spent much of April 11 perfecting his composition.

While far from finished, he’s likened the piece to an old-school Gilbert and Sullivan production. That was a nice callback for the former Hal High music teacher and Glee club figurehead, who produced student-led plays from the Victorian-era duo annually through the 70s and 80s.

While Beynon will take a behind-the-scenes role during the final production, Gliddon admits he feels a calling to tickle the ivories. He’ll also assist with final planning.

Next steps

Kuinka said the community is abuzz following the story announcement, with the next phase going to be finding performers. There are workshops scheduled May 16 and Aug. 9, though she encourages anyone interested in playing a role to reach out.

Originally, the opera was to feature three or four local stories, but Kuinka said the judges had a hard enough time whittling things down to five.

“We’ve really hit the ground running now – our selected writers have all been matched with mentors to assist. Some require help with the music, but others are already working themselves to figure out how to best bring their pieces to life,” Kuinka said, noting Mandel and Mardus will also perform in their renditions.

“We have stories that are hilarious, stories that are deeply moving and are tear-jerkers, and stories of human growth, of experience overcoming hardship,” she added.

Kuinka is hoping all stories will be wrapped by Aug. 9, giving performers at least three months to perfect their act.

The final performance will be held in November of December, likely at the Northern Lights Performing Arts Pavilion.

HoS is looking to fill a variety of behind-the-scenes roles, as well as on-stage, with anyone interested asked to contact Kuinka at valerie@highlandsoperastudio.com.