Loblaws Holiday Food Drive is back! From December 2nd to December 24th, visit a participating Loblaw grocery store and donate food or money to help those in need this holiday season. Please see below for a list of participating stores.
Jason’s No Frills Etobicoke
1530 Albion Road (Finch Ave. E & Albion Rd.)
Carlo’s No Frills
1591 Wilson Ave. (Jane St & Wilson Ave)
Real Canadian Superstore
51 Gerry Fitzgerald Dr. (Dufferin St & Steeles Ave W)
LSL Yonge & Yonge
3501 Yonge Street (Yonge St. & Wilson Ave.)
George’s Independent City Market
3080 Yonge Street (Lawrence Ave. W & Mt. Pleasant Rd.)
Weston Rd. Superstore
2549 Weston Road (Weston Rd. & 401)
Listro’s No Frills North York
3555 Don Mills Road (401 & Finch Ave. E.)
Richard & Ruth’s No Frills North York
1450 Lawrence Avenue East (Victoria Park Ave & Lawrence Ave E)
Bruno’s Your Independent Grocer Don Mills
83 Underhill Drive (Don Valley Pkwy & Lawrence Ave W)
Leonetti’s No Frills
1641 Jane St (Jane St & Lawrence Ave W)
For any of our other drop-off locations click here.
Join us to celebrate the season and support North York Harvest Food Bank and Daily Bread Food Bank.
CBC Sounds of the Season Community Event
Saturday, December 17
10am – 1pm
Don Mills Library
888 Lawrence Avenue East
Come and visit the many booths, from kids’ activities to art activities to a photo booth! Meet some of your favourite CBC personalities and watch live performances from SKETCH, a community arts enterprise, as we come together to support the community this holiday season.
Trucks from North York Harvest and Daily Bread will be on site and we welcome non-perishable food donations.
If you can’t make it and still want to support us, click here for more information.
Who’s Hungry Report 2022: A Story of a System Under Strain
In partnership, Daily Bread Food Bank and North York Harvest Food Bank have released the annual Who’s Hungry 2022 report profiling hunger, poverty, and system strain in Toronto. With a wide reach across the city, our collective network of 200 food programs serve as an early warning sign of the effectiveness of our system. This year’s report highlights the record growing levels of demand faced by food banks, with no signs of slowing down.
During the reporting period, a record 1.68 million food bank visits were recorded in Toronto, up 16% from the previous record of 1.45 million last year. Over the past twelve months, visits have reached 1.99 million. Demand is projected to reach over two million visits by the end of 2022.
Contributing factors to the strain we are seeing include:
Low incomes and high housing costs are pushing people to food banks
Record inflation rates are accelerating the number of visits
A growing and more significant number of people relying on food banks have jobs
Of those employed, 60% reported holding a precarious job with low wages and little to no benefits
Insufficient income drives food insecurity. Most clients are trapped in deep poverty, reporting incomes that are half of Canada’s official poverty line. People on the social and economic margins are the ones using food banks.
We need systemic long-term solutions to end food insecurity. We will never solve food insecurity and poverty untilthe systemic issues perpetuating inequities in our communities are fixed. Poverty reduction needs to be addressed by government as the duty-bearers. We call for the following:
Guaranteed income security and the elimination of systemic poverty
Solutions to Toronto’s housing affordability crisis
Mitigations for the steep increases in the cost of living
As part of North York Harvest’s commitment to providing dignified food assistance, education, advocacy, and long-term food solutions, we will continue to collaborate with the other community organizations, the government, and our partners in the private sector to achieve our vision of a community where all members are able to meet their food needs.
From October 5 to 8, Centerpoint Mall will be running a Food Drive for North York Harvest. For every donation of non-perishable food items worth $10 or more, you will receive an eco bag from Centerpoint Mall!
Share your photo with the centre on Instagram or Facebook to get a chance to win a $100 shopping spree.
