Comments Off on North York Harvest’s After the Bell Program
In Canada, under 20 per cent of the population are children. Nevertheless, they account for almost 35 per cent of food bank recipients. This summer, Food Banks Canada is determined to fight these statistics through its “After the Bell” program. Last year, 130,000 healthy food packs were distributed across the country in an effort to nourish kids in need. This year, the organization hopes to deliver 150,000 packs, which contain both shelf-stable and perishable items.
For the past few years, North York Harvest has been fortunate to be part of this initiative. As one of the largest urban centres in Canada, communities across Toronto have been among some of the hardest hit during the pandemic. The situation is exacerbated by school closures and the winding down of various social support programs, including the Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB). Parents are no longer able to depend on meal programs and turn to food banks due to the lack of a better alternative.
Through the grant program North York Harvest is able to purchase fresh food such as apples, sugar snap peas, cheese, and yogurt to include in the nutritious food packs. With the support of Food Banks Canada the teams at our community food spaces and network agencies are better equipped to serve families and children throughout the summer months, and leading them into a brighter and healthier school year ahead.
Comments Off on Pop-Up Shop for Pets In Partnership with the Humane Society of Canada
Last month, North York Harvest partnered with Humane Society International/Canada and Friends of HSI to hold a pet food pop-up at the Bathurst and Finch Community Food Space. The purpose of this event was to provide support to those in need of assistance in caring for their companion animals. Those impacted by the pandemic were offered free dog and cat food as well as treats and supplies for their pets.
“Since the start of the pandemic, our team’s focused mission has been to help keep pets in their homes. We have seen the unmistakable and often severe impact that COVID-19 has had on communities around Toronto and the rest of the province. We also know that the struggles and the lasting impact on people’s lives continues. We are grateful for this partnership with North York Harvest Food Bank as we join together to provide continued relief for people and their pets,” says Larysa Struk, Project Manager for the Ontario COVID-19 Animal Response Program at Friends of HSI.
Here at North York Harvest, we realize that for many individuals and families, pets have provided a much needed source of support, especially during the pandemic. At the same time, pet ownership is an added expense for many in our community. “With access to quality pet food and supplies, we are helping our community members ensure the well-being of their companions,” Henry Chiu, Director of Development & Marketing. “By partnering with the Humane Society International/Canada, we can further expand our existing support for pets which benefits the long-term health of all members of our community.”
Family, friends and relaxation, that’s what summer should be all about. But for many families in our community, summer adds a significant stress as they grapple with additional food costs. In fact, summer is the time of year when our community’s food needs are at a peak, yet we receive our lowest level of donations. With your support, we can continue helping nourish families who turn to North York Harvest to meet their food needs.
During the pandemic you have helped make the Hamper Hero Virtual Food Drive a major success! While in-person food drives were not possible, the generous support North York Harvest received from families, schools and community groups was incredible. As we head into the summer months, the positive response continues with an increasing number of community members participating in virtual food drives. Our community continues to need your support, and we’re pleased to be able to help families with your contributions.
Goal Setting: While it may seem simple, setting a fundraising target creates excitement for everyone who donates. Consider setting a reward for meeting your target to get everyone even more engaged.
Make It Special: Select a date and host a kick-off event that gets everyone on board. Consider engaging your network by sharing a video about the work that North York Harvest does.
Give Regular Reminders: Keep your group updated on the success of your Virtual Food Drive by sharing via social media platforms. Encourage everyone who has contributed to share on their social media channels and remember to tag North York Harvest too!
Comments Off on Growing Stronger Through Our Network
Over the past 18 months, our partner agencies have been able to rely on our ongoing support in many different service areas. Operated by volunteers, Community Share Food Bank has been able to continue helping more than 150 families meet their food needs every week. Established in 2005, Community Share Food Bank provides fresh and non-perishable food to families on a weekly basis. As a member of our agency network, Community Share strives to provide healthier, more food secure community by creating a space where people can come together and feel a sense of belonging. Community Share Food Bank, that would not have been able to serve the community without resources available through North York Harvest.
“Being able to lean on North York Harvest’s expertise as a larger, parent agency that has emergency plans in place and the resources available, we can grow, build and move forward in a much stronger way.” Diane Enhorning, past chair Community Share
As a partner with North York Harvest, during the pandemic Community Food Share relied even more to get up and running quickly. Beginning with getting access to the Toronto Public Library’s Don Mills location to developing the infrastructure needed to operate safely, Diane credits the partnership with North York Harvest as being a major contributing factor to the ongoing success of Community Share’s programs.
Now with a program manager in place, along with policies and procedures and the connections Community Share has established as a North York Harvest partner agency, Enhorning is looking forward to continuing to work, learn and grow. With brighter days on the horizon, it is an exciting time for Community Share to be able to bring additional resources and programs to the neighbourhood.
“While there have been so many new challenges over the last year, I feel incredibly privileged to have had the opportunity to work alongside North York Harvest staff and board members to accelerate our work together.” says Habon Ali, North York Harvest’s new board chair.
Habon has been an urban and city building planner in Toronto for nearly a decade. She joined the North York Harvest Board of Directors three years ago to learn more about community-based food models and to support organizations and agencies working directly on food related causes in her neighbourhood.
As board chair, Habon is working with board members to ensure the principles and values of the organization are reflected in decision making. “One of the areas we are focused on is internal board education and board recruitment. We are looking closely at the skills and experiences that we have at the table” she explains, “along with being best positioned to support the organization we also want to ensure that our board reflects the community we serve.”
We recently caught up with Habon for her perspective on the issues surrounding food security post-Covid, and how community partnerships are key to moving forward.
North York Harvest: Why is it important for food banks to have a community connection that goes beyond being an emergency food source?
Habon Ali: We know that food banks initially surfaced to support neighbourhoods and communities with immediate needs and were not intended to be a long-term solution. And while we need to continue providing food support, we also want to be able to help address some of the broader challenges our communities are facing. The work we do with Food Reach is a great demonstration of this because along with being able to support smaller agencies with food needs.
NYH: Food insecurity has become a real-life focus for so many in the past 18 months. As a leader, what learnings have you been able to take away from these times that will continue to strengthen North York Harvest moving forward?
HA: North York Harvest’s ability to pivot and be resilient will continue to build strength. It was incredible to see the Toronto Public Library partnership happen and the connections formed between services that many people see as sometimes operating in silos. We hope we will see more opportunities to leverage these types of partnerships and with connections outside of the food space. The issues and challenges we are facing touch on many other areas, and we are starting to really lean into new synergies and opportunities for cross sector collaboration.
NYH: In what ways can all levels of government, business, and non-profit ensure equitable access to healthy affordable food options?
HA: Part of the work we are seeing is better recognition of the reasons why people in our communities face food challenges which is linked to a lack of sustainable incomes, affordable housing, transportation and childcare. So the conversations we are having are not just about getting food in our warehouses but also about looking at what is keeping people in food insecure positions. By looking at policy decisions and collaborating with other social agencies we are able to take a holistic approach and can work towards creating more equitable and inclusive communities. It’s a big conversation that requires everyone to be involved.
NYH: What excites you most about NYHFB’s future, in particular in a post-pandemic world?
HA: I have been encouraged by conversations about race and anti-oppression and what we can do to support those who have historically been underrepresented in our community. There is an openness and a desire to have tough conversations and integrate what we learn into the work we are doing. I’m excited about the direction these conversations are taking us, and the eagerness to keep this moving forward.
Adequate food and housing are both recognized as fundamental human rights, enshrined in the United Nations International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which Canada signed in 1976. The current rates of both food insecurity and housing precarity as well as the very existence of food banks, shelters and homeless encampments are all evidence that these fundamental human rights are not being realized for many of our community members.
In 2012, North York Harvest Food Bank formally adopted “long-term food solutions” as part of our mission, recognizing that emergency food assistance could not adequately address the root causes of food bank usage, including the shortage of truly affordable housing in Toronto.
The events at Lampton Stadium yesterday were disturbing to watch. While we acknowledge that housing is a complex issue requiring cooperation from various levels of government as well as the public and non-profit sectors, we believe that there must be a better way to address this complexity than by forcibly removing residents from the encampments or threatening residents with fines that only serve to exacerbate their poverty. Moreover, we know from our own work that the failure to address the actual root causes of poverty ultimately costs all of us in the form of increased expenses to our health care, education and justice systems. A 2019 study from Feed Ontario estimated that Ontario loses up to $33 billion each year in this way due to poverty. Our current strategies to improve this situation have proven to be woefully insufficient, inefficient and disrespectful to our most marginalized communities.
We encourage all involved to reflect on yesterday’s events and work in good faith towards more humane and effective solutions. North York Harvest is committed to learning from and working with the many frontline organizations that have been working tirelessly to support unhoused residents. We stand willing to provide any supports we can to displaced residents as well as to our partners in government and civil society in order to create truly long-term solutions to this crisis.
North York Harvest Food Bank’s approach to the COVID-19 pandemic is guided by our organizational responsibilities to workplace health and safety and our commitment to human rights. Just as we believe that all community members have a right to food, we believe that access to health care resources should be provided free from discrimination. Sadly, our collective experience with COVID-19 demonstrates that this is not the case. Community consultations conducted by Toronto Public Health “stated that COVID-19 has laid bare and exacerbated long-standing systemic inequities related to poverty, racism and other forms of discrimination” and that “inequitable access to the social determinants of health has provided favourable conditions for COVID-19 to spread in populations already marginalized by existing inequities, particularly Indigenous, Black, racialized and low-income communities”.[1]To state it bluntly, our community members are at disproportionate risk of contracting COVID-19 but not as likely to be able to access appropriate protections.[2]
As an organization, we have spared no expense to make our workplaces and food spaces safe, to protect the health of our workers and to maximize access to emergency food assistance in our community. We have committed to use guidance from public health experts as a minimum operating standard for all of our work. This approach extends to vaccines. While vaccinations provide individual protections from COVID-19, the primary goal of a vaccination campaign is to establish “herd immunity” whereby the majority of the population is immunized and COVID-19 can no longer spread.[3] Our community will not be safe until this threshold is met. As a result, North York Harvest Food Bank joins with Toronto Public Health to strongly encourage all Torontonians to get vaccinated if they are eligible to do so. While we acknowledge that vaccination is an individual choice and that people may have valid reasons for not receiving a vaccination, we strongly believe that choosing to be vaccinated is an important way that all eligible Torontonians can support our work and our community.
North York Harvest Food Bank will facilitate COVID-19 vaccinations in any way that we can. This includes using our food spaces to provide information and opportunities for vaccinations to our community members.
The availability of safe and effective vaccines provides us with a powerful tool to combat COVID-19. I thank you for your commitment as we lend our support to local vaccination campaigns.
Comments Off on North York Harvest Launches 2021 Give 30 Campaign
Since 2012, Give 30 has been making a difference in communities nationwide, the United States and Australia. This grassroots movement was inspired by the Muslim faith’s Ramadan which takes place from April 13 until May 12, 2021. Regardless of of faith or background, everyone is encouraged to support partnering community organizations to fight hunger and food insecurity in our communities. This year, the campaign runs until August 31, which enables donors to extend their participation past the traditional 30-day campaign period. As a participating member agency, when you make a donation to Give 30 through North York Harvest Food Bank, your donation directly impacts the lives of families and individuals right here in your local community. By supporting one another, at times when we all need it most, we can each make a difference, together.
Find out more about the values, and vision of Give 30 along how this important initiative began with a singular idea and inspiration. Interested in learning how you can connect with others who are also taking part in this global movement? Become a Give 30 Fan on Facebook and follow Give 30 on Twitter.
