Agencies that assist families in need are bracing for a rough road ahead as global concerns over rising food prices are echoed locally.

A combination of higher prices and a drop in donations has prompted a downtown soup kitchen/men’s shelter to issue an online plea for help.

The recently launched e-mail campaign is seeking the assistance of churches and service groups, said Tim Tanton, executive manager of Lighthouse Christian Ministries.

“It is kind of hard to tighten the belt when there is nothing left to tighten,” said Tanton. “It is getting difficult. Costs are up and donations are down.”

Strapped for resources, the Peter Street South operation has temporarily shelved its Monday and Thursday night dinners for the general public.

“We just don’t have the money and the food to continue on with that right now,” he added.

Representatives of Canada’s food industry have warned that consumers should expect to pay more at the grocery store due to worldwide shortages of grains and rocketing fuel costs.

Pasta, bread, flour, and other wheat-based products are already on the rise.

“Canadians aren’t experiencing the same price hikes as the rest of the world. Having said that, it is coming,” said David Wilkes, of the Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors.

The drop-in donations that traditionally coincides with the summer holiday season is already being felt at the soup kitchen/shelter, while basics like powdered milk and coffee are growing ever more expensive, Tanton said.

“We are having food shortages ourselves,” he added. “We are already deep into it. You have to wonder what the future is going to be like.”

The Sharing Place Food Bank is considering stockpiling rice in anticipation of a predicted shortage, “while we are still able to get it,” said executive director Don Evans.

“We are beginning to feel the effects, and there is absolutely no question our patrons are reporting it is having an impact on them,” he said of the higher prices.

A recent delivery of day-old bread, donated regularly by a local grocery store, was “very, very small,” Evans added.

“Food is on the rise, for sure,” said the Salvation Army’s Capt. Wayne McTaggart. “Food is definitely on the rise.”

The Salvation Army relies largely on funds raised through its annual Christmas kettle campaign to support programs serving area residents.

Last month alone, Orillia’s Salvation Army branch served 250 families, many of them working poor.

“We are getting people who have never been to us before,” McTaggart added. “They are stuck. Their cheques are going for mortgages, credit cards, hydro. A lot of them don’t have the money to eat.”

Peter Marinakos, the owner of an independent pizzeria in Orillia, said the cost of flour – a key ingredient in his pies – has more than doubled in recent months.

A 20-kilogram bag of flour that last summer cost $10 now rings in at $25, he added.

He said the increase has left him no choice but to institute a small price hike.

“I had to, I could not afford not to,” he added. “It was unbearable for us to continue that way.”

With files from Torstar