Do you know about North York Harvest’s social enterprise,FoodReach?
FoodReach lowers food costs for nonprofits, improves food access for thousands of Torontonians, supports local producers, and generates sustainable revenue to strengthen North York Harvest’s mission.
By pooling the collective buying power of hundreds of schools, shelters, and community organizations, FoodReach purchases nutritious food in bulk from local suppliers and passes those savings directly to the frontline programs feeding our city.
Watch this video to learn all about the impact of FoodReach!
Comments Off on Ahmed Hamza’s Story: Finding community and building stability
When Ahmed first came to Canada in September 2024, there were many challenges, but finding a job seemed impossible.
“It was so difficult. I couldn’t work or study, I had to have Canadian referrals and certifications. I had to have Canadian experience, even to work at McDonald’s,” Ahmed says.
In Egypt, Ahmed studied graphic design and had been steadily building a career in his field. In Canada, he applied for many jobs and went to dozens of interviews, but he began to feel defeated.
He found precarious cash jobs to cover his expenses, but they didn’t have the stability and equity he was looking for in a career.
Ahmed was on his own in a new country, trying to get grounded. He wanted to connect with his new community, so he Googled the nearest food bank and found North York Harvest.
“At Albion, they are like my brothers and sisters,” he says. “Everyone is so supportive, especially the manager, Chashma.”
Through Chashma, Ahmed learned about the Leadership in Logistics program: North York Harvest’s paid training program that offers successful graduates full-time jobs in Canadian Tire distribution warehouses.
During the four-week paid training program, Ahmed joined his peers in the North York Harvest warehouse, learning how to build orders for distribution across our network, safely operate machinery, and more.
In just a month, trainees have all the knowledge and certifications they need to start their new careers.
“The Leadership in Logistics program has brought stability, confidence, and independence. I finally feel like I’m building a real life here,” Ahmed says.
Ahmed is now excelling in his new role at Canadian Tire, but he’s still a part of the North York Harvest community.
Over the next year, he will have access to appointments with staff who can help guide him to any other resources he may need, including referrals to healthcare or furniture, as he continues to build his new life in Canada.
“I feel proud and grateful. It was a big step forward and gave me hope that my future in Canada was finally taking shape,” Ahmed says.
The affordability crisis continues to push our city and our sector to the breaking point.
But we have an incredible community of people who see this crisis every day and take meaningful action to make a difference.
Supporters like you who refuse to accept 30,000 people in their community don’t have enough food for themselves and their families every month.
Together we are working to meet the immediate needs of our community today, while fighting the root causes of food insecurity to build a stronger, more equitable tomorrow.
From March-August 2025 we:
Distributed 1.2 million lbs. of food across our network
Comments Off on Our community put Queen’s Park on NOTICE!
The cost of living is skyrocketing out of control while wages and social supports fall far behind – trapping more people in poverty every day.
Our community decided they weren’t going to go unnoticed any longer.
On Thursday, October 23, hundreds of people from food banks, drop-in centres, meal programs, community organizations, and disability justice and housing advocates took over Queen’s Park to demand a rent freeze, raising the minimum wage, and higher social assistance rates.
“People like me get notices all the time. Notice of late payment, notice of arrears, notice of layoff, notice of eviction — even notice of insufficient funds when we try to pay our groceries” says Goldie, a long-time client and supporter of our Lawrence Heights Food Space.
“But instead of fixing the cracks in the system that too many of us are falling through, our government has allowed them to grow even bigger. So we put them on notice: We won’t be ignored any longer.”
Eight buses from across the GTHA, including from each of our Community Food Spaces, brought hundreds of individuals to the doorstep of our decisionmakers to have their voices heard.
A life-size installation of the board game Snakes and Broken Ladders was displayed before the Legislative Assembly, with each square representing a crack in a broken system.
North York Harvest Food Bank supports 30,000 food bank clients per month. We provide all the numbers and data on food insecurity through our annual Who’s Hungry Report, but we wanted to help create space for the people behind those numbers, whose voices, too often, go unnoticed.
Fight for a city for all of us. Join North York’s movement to put the drivers of hunger, inequality, and unaffordability on notice. Be part of a collective movement that won’t be ignored. Join noticenorthyork.ca.
Queen’s Park ON NOTICE was co-organized by North York Harvest Food Bank, ACORN Ontario, Campaign for Adequate Welfare and Disability Benefits, DJNO, Fair Rent Ontario, FMTA, Income Security Advocacy Centre, Justice For Workers, ODSP Action Coalition, Raise the Rates Coalition, Social Planning Toronto, York South-Weston Tenant Union, and the Weston King-Mount Dennis Neighbourhood Centre.
Comments Off on Food for Thought: How local procurement builds community wealth
Food for Thought: How local procurement builds community wealth
In our Food for Thought series, individuals within North York Harvest Food Bank will share their experience in matters pertaining to food insecurity and poverty. This series will share ideas, perspectives, and lessons learned as we work toward our vision of a community where all members are able to meet their food needs.
Written by Lianne Holland, Senior Manager of Social Enterprise and Community Wealth
When meeting with first-time FoodReach customers, I’m often asked, “How is it that you get the cheapest prices on food?”
The short answer is, we don’t.
Because FoodReach is a non-profit food supplier to the community food sector, there tends to be an expectation that we will sell food at bargain-basement pricing. But we take a different approach to procurement.
Consider for a moment the food in your fridge
Is it filled with food that nourishes you?
Does it meet your cultural and dietary preferences?
Is the food fresh?
Did you buy it from a store you can rely on to stock what you need?
Can you get similar foods cheaper elsewhere, but you’re more concerned with quality over price?
Where did it come from?
These are all of the same questions we ask ourselves when we’re building FoodReach’s catalogue. We want to leverage economies of scale to lower food costs for our customers, and we want to create a long-term food solution.
Part of creating a long-term food solution is sourcing quality, nourishing, culturally relevant food from reliable suppliers we can count on, so our sector can count on us.
But how can we make our impact even greater? That’s where our Community Wealth Building mindset comes in. We’ve been focusing a lot on the question: “Where does the food come from?”
At any given time, FoodReach’s catalogue sells a minimum of 50% locally sourced products. This fluctuates to a higher number seasonally as a result of the supply and demand of produce. The more we’re procuring products from the local economy, the more we’re strengthening our community because it’s creating jobs.
Sourcing locally also makes our supply chain more reliable, and less susceptible to disruptions like we are seeing with this year’s tariffs, and back in 2020/2021 with the pandemic.
And as we make big plans for our future Community Food Hub, we’re looking at how we leverage our resources further to strengthen and support local, small businesses by supplying warehouse space and connections to a consistent demand from our customers.
When we look back in our fridges, not only are we nourishing ourselves, every purchasing choice we’re making is positively impacting other people’s lives so they can nourish themselves, too.
Comments Off on Welcome to Albion Library Community Food Space
Albion Library Community Food Space in Photos
Albion is our smallest Community Food Space—but it still has a big impact in the Rexdale community!
During the pandemic in 2020, many food banks shut down to maintain public-health protocols. Toronto Public Library (TPL) stepped up to ensure people could still get food support by setting up outdoor food banks across 9 TPL locations.
North York Harvest Food Bank worked with TPL to open a distribution site in the parking lot of Albion Public Library. The pandemic restrictions eased, but the need in the community soared as the affordability crisis worsened.
Today, we continue to partner with TPL to run our Albion food space out of two shipping containers, serving 2,400 client visits every month.
Despite its size, Albion is an important hub of support and community connection.
Our Community
We hold two community food programs every week, serving individuals and families in the Rexdale area.
Our Albion food space serves a large number of seniors, newcomers, and single-parent families.
31% of clients are children and youth
49% of clients are from 1-2 person households
In the past 6 months, 25% of clients have been new
Meet Chashma!
Chashma is the new Food Space Manager of Albion, but she’s been working with North York Harvest since 2023, when she started as a volunteer.
“Something I’m happy to see us do as an organization is implement our own clients as ambassadors for our Albion Food Space to support the community engagement work we do,” she says. “I think a key part in our mission, and what we are fighting for, can only be pushed forward by the voices of our own clients and community members.
“I am happy to learn how important this influence is at North York Harvest, and happy to be a part of our mission.”
Community Partnerships
FoodieFest
Every June North York Harvest participates in Rexdale Community Health Centre’s Foodie Fest, which draws hundreds to the Albion Library for live entertainment, information on community resources, and, of course, food.
We purchase fresh produce through our social enterprise FoodReach and distribute it to our community, which has become a huge hit! From You to Them
Clothing is a big need among our community members, but taking transit to a clothing bank can be a barrier for clients. This year we’re grateful to partner with From You to Them – a mobile clothing bank that comes to Albion once a month.
The Career Foundation
The Career Foundation joins us in the summer to help reduce barriers to employment in our community. Every week, they’re onsite to provide information on free workshops, resources, and employment opportunities.
Summer Green Market
For the first time this year, we launched a green market at Albion to make healthy food more affordable for everyone!
Similar to the green markets at our Bathurst-Finch and Lawrence Heights food spaces, we order fresh produce from FoodReach and then sell it at cost to our community.
Thanks to a generous grant from Toronto Public Library, we were able to lower food costs even further.
On average, our Albion community paid 40% less for fruits and veggies than they would at the grocery store!
Meet Leila!
Leila (left) is a placement student from Northern College in Timmins, and she’s been volunteering with us since the beginning of September.
“Working at North York Harvest Food Bank has been nothing short of incredible, I mean that from the bottom of my heart,” she says.
“It’s been fulfilling, challenging, it’s been enlightening … food insecurity does not discriminate, that’s something that has been a huge eye opener for me since I started working here – it could impact any one of us.”
Thank you for joining us at Albion Library Community Food Space!
And thank you to our donors, community partners, staff, and volunteers who help make this critical work possible every day.
Together we are working toward our vision of a community where all members are able to meet their food needs.
Comments Off on The many homes of North York Harvest Food Bank
Over the past 40 years the roof at North York Harvest Food Bank has changed, but our foundation stayed the same: Work toward a community where all members are able to meet their food needs. Every time North York Harvest has moved, it allowed us to expand not only the space, but also our programs, our community partnerships, and our advocacy work to fight the underlying causes of poverty. As we prepare to move again into our new Community Food Hub at 4050 Chesswood Dr., here’s a look back at how we’ve turned every new home into an opportunity for growth and deeper connection with our community!
1986-1991 – 3640 Weston Rd. Unit 11
North York Harvest Food Bank moves into its first humble home: A 3000 sq. ft. warehouse. That year, 158,337 lbs of food were distributed to the community. The food bank grew rapidly, and by 1990 North York Harvest expanded its space to include both Units 10 and 20, and rented an additional 2,700 sq. ft. space next door to keep up with the need in North York. Key milestones
Welcomed 43 partner agencies
Installed 2 walk-in fridges, vastly expanding food distribution
Published our first annual report and monthly newsletter sharing low-cost recipes and information about local community programs
1992-2002 – 4478 Chesswood Dr., Unit 16
This new space opened the door to more food served in our community, and in our first year we distributed 1 million lbs of food! This home also represented a shift in focus beyond emergency food support to addressing the underlying causes of poverty.
Key milestones
Through the Who’s Hungry survey of over 800 food bank users across the GTA, North York Harvest helped reveal that chronic food insecurity was deeply tied to poor health outcomes
Launched community initiatives including Making Connections, which brought fresh food from local farms into the city that would otherwise go to waste
Partnered with the Ontario Institute of Chartered Accountants to launch free tax clinics for low-income individuals
2002-2015 – Bathurst Heights Secondary School – 640 Lawrence Ave. West
North York Harvest relocated to the back of the former Bathurst Heights Secondary School. This came with three loading docks and a completely rebuilt walk-in freezer/cooler, which doubled our capacity for food distribution.
For the first time ever, North York Harvest could accept and distribute large-scale donations of perishable food — and by 2014, 75,000 lbs of fresh foods were distributed in a single year.
Key Milestones
Expanded our in-house hamper program into the Community Action Resource Centre, providing not just food, but referrals to ESL programs, newcomer settlement services, employment services, and more
Founded our Bathurst-Finch and Oriole Community Food Spaces to deepen our impact across North York
Implemented the choice model, which moved from prepacked hampers to dignified food assistance by allowing clients to choose the food they wanted
2015–Present – Learning Enrichment Foundation – 116 Industry St.
By 2015, 13,000 individuals relied on North York Harvest Food Bank for support in meeting their food needs. Our home at 116 Industry was not only larger, but it came with additional food racking, a walk-in fridge 3x larger and a freezer 2x larger than our old space.
But equally important was the work that went on to challenge the underlying causes of poverty. This included formally adopting ‘focused advocacy’ into our mission, creating real pathways out of poverty, and providing platforms for our community members to have their voices heard and push for lasting change.
The food support we provide remains critical, but the job creation, the innovation, and the advocacy is essential to achieving our vision of a community where all members can meet their food needs.
Key milestones
Creating our workforce and training program Leadership in Logistics, which provides practical experience and pathways out of poverty into full-time employment
Running our FoodReach social enterprise, which helps provide more affordable food to non-profits across Ontario while supporting North York Harvest’s operations
Forming the Community Advocacy Group, which unites clients to organize around key issues, including affordable housing and social assistance, through rallies, deputations, petitions, and more
2026– 4050 Chesswood Dr.
With 30,000 clients depending on North York Harvest Food Bank every month, and the lease at our current space ending next year – North York Harvest is preparing to move again to meet the growing and changing needs of our community.
Our next move will be a transformational one. This 30,000 sq. ft. Community Food Hub will expand our Leadership in Logistics program and FoodReach, triple food storage capacity, and bring our community together to develop initiatives that fight the root causes of poverty.
This isn’t just a new food bank, it’s a launchpad for a more resilient, equitable, and empowered community.
Comments Off on Commemorating 40 years of community care
On Friday August 8th, we celebrated our 40th anniversary by opening the doors to our soon-to-be home at 4050 Chesswood Drive!
Throughout the day, 1000 attendees showed up to tour the space and reflect on what four decades of community care has meant for North York.
We were delighted to welcome past and present staff and volunteers, community partners, and donors who have each contributed to transforming North York Harvest into what it is today.
Guests followed a timeline of our progress from the moment they walked in, with photos and milestones capturing four decades of food served, voices heard, dignity preserved, jobs created, connections forged, and real change fought for every single day.
North York Harvest Food Bank would not be possible without the generosity, passion, and dedication of our community.
We thank everyone who joined us to commemorate our past and look to the future at our most transformative chapter yet: A Community Food Hub that will reimagine what a food bank can be, and redefine how we fight food insecurity.
But we can’t do it alone. That’s why we recently launched a bold $6-million capital campaign that will turn an empty warehouse into a vibrant hub of food distribution, workforce development, and social enterprise.
Support this campaign to help create real, lasting change that will be felt for generations.
