Tag Archive: community

  1. Scotiabank Marathon

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    This past Sunday, for the 8th year in a row, we took part in the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon!  It was cold.  It was snowing.  But all participants were still in great spirits!

    Our goal was to raise $15,000 in order to provide 45,000 meals to our neighbours that are hungry.

    WE’RE ALMOST THERE! We’ve already exceeded $12,000!

    Even though the race is over, YOU can still be a part of the team!

    DON’T DELAY – Donations can only be made until the end of October so please DONATE NOW

    Thank you to all our participants for getting up to race with us at 8:00 in the morning on a chilly Sunday.  Your dedication will to help feed people in your community.  We’d also like to extend our gratitude to the donors and sponsors for your generosity!

    We were excited to be joined by many of our veteran teammates in person and spirit.  Including the Fun Runners team with Peter Zissis and Chris Hilborn, who have been running with NYH for 8 years!   We also had some new faces, including Executive Director Ryan Noble and Board Member Tony Cancelliere.

    Our incredible teams this year were:

    • Fun Runners with Peter Zissis & Chris Hilborn
    • The Accidental Roamers with Anoop Chawla & Anette Chawla and team
    • NYH team – Leslie, Ryan, Emma, Sophia, Tony Cancelliere & Harold Banguero and family
    • Kevin Munn and family

    And as always, our tradition at the race is the Treasurer of the Board (Kevin Munn) best represented our team by wearing a great costume!

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    What our team had to say:

    “Taking part in the charity walk was a lot of fun and a great feeling – there was a great sense of community among the participants that represented all walks of life” – Tony Cancelliere

    “I had my best time ever and also helped families.” – Accidental Roamers

    “It was a lot of fun to walk with all my friends at the Scotiabank Marathon and see the thousands of other people.  We also raised money for the food bank.” – AR

    “My kids and I were super excited for the event.  It was the best 5KM yet Thank you to family and friends for supporting the North York Harvest Food Bank!” – Leslie Venturino

    Please help us provide 45,000 meals to your neighbours in need by donating here.

  2. World Food Day

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    Today is World Food Day and we want to know what it means to you?

    Does it make you think about all of your favourite foods?

    How they taste or smell?

    How they are made?

    Where they come from?

    Or does it make you think about people who may not have enough food to eat?

    World Food Day was created to be a day of action against hunger across the world.  October 16th was declared World Food Day in 1945 by the United Nations in an effort to end hunger.

    Many people don’t think of their community when they think of hunger in the world.  It seems to be something that you only really see on television or in the news.  But the reality is that almost 1 million Canadians use a food bank every month.  13,000 of them happen to be your own neighbours.

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    Hunger and the need for help can happen to anyone.  Low wages, loss of a job, family tragedy, health issues, and many more reasons contribute to poverty in Toronto.  54% of the people that use our services have skipped meals in order to pay for other things such as utilities, rent, transportation or even so their own children can have a meal.  A parent never wants to make the choice between feeding their children and paying the rent.

    What can you do to help?

    There are many ways that you can get involved in your community and help put an end to hunger in your own backyard.

    Together we can make a real impact and help parents, grandparents and children overcome the struggle of not having anything to eat.

    Today is World Food Day, but let’s make every day the day that we lend a hand to those in need.

    “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”
    – Dr. Seuss

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  3. Join the Fall Food Drive!

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    It’s Thanksgiving weekend!  I hope you are all looking forward to enjoying time and a nice meal with all of your families.

    As I think about the abundance of delicious food that will be set at my table, I also am confronted with a troubling thought.  Many families in our very own community will not have the luxury to sit down to a large dinner with their loved ones.  Many won’t even have enough food to fill their bellies.

    It’s a tough thing to think about.  Thanksgiving is the time of year when we celebrate and are thankful for what we have and the food at our table. But it’s hard for someone to be thankful when they don’t have enough food to eat.

    That is where YOU come in!  Because of the incredible support from caring people like you, many of our neighbours are able to access nutritious food to feed their families.

    As the weather gets colder and we get ready for Thanksgiving, the NYH Annual Fall Food Drive to raise $100,000 and 100,000 pounds of food to provide 300,000 meals for our neighbours in need is in full swing.  Your support will make an amazing difference in the lives of so many families in Toronto.  Just $1 can provide 3 meals. Your small act of kindness today will make a lot of parents and children nourished and happy.  Will you consider helping us reach this goal?

    What can you do?

    Get involved and run a Food & Fund Drive!  It’s so easy to sign up and put together a food drive with your family, coworkers, school, clubs or friends!  Check out this really fun list of ideas to get started.

    If you don’t have time to set up a food & fund drive yourself, donate online or make a food donation at local grocery stores and fire halls.  For a list of where you can donate groceries, please click here.

    Not sure what kind of items to donate?  Here’s a handy list of food items that are in high demand, especially around this time of year.

    The top 5 needed items are:

    • Baby Food
    • Canned fish
    • Canned chickpeas and other beans
    • Cooking oil (personal sized bottles)
    • Soup

    Click here to see what other items are needed most.

    If you are digging through your pantry to find items to donate, be sure that they are not expired.  Items that are past the best before date are accepted.  For more information on expiry and best before dates, check out our blog post.

    You can make a difference in the lives of 13,000 parents, children and grandparents that rely on food banks every month.  It is because of generous people like you that we can make hunger in Canada a thing of the past.

    Let’s make this Thanksgiving a holiday that everyone can be thankful for.

  4. Back to School BBQ

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    “How can I make a difference in my community?” It’s a question we hear a lot at North York Harvest, and one that’s hard to give a concrete answer for. Every day we meet new amazing people who are taking new and creative approaches to helping their neighbours in need. Everyone’s different and the way they better their community is a reflection of that.

    But while it’s hard to come up with a formula for creating positive change, we usually encourage people to do 3 things.

    • Choose your passion. Is it fresh food?  Is it kids eating healthy meals?
    • Plan a fun and creative event based around the things you love to do.
    • Invite your friends, family and co-workers to join you.

    Easier said than done right? Well, this last week, one of our incredible donors, Brand Active, followed these steps perfectly, and the result was inspiring, impactful, a really fun.

    With the summer winding down, you’ve probably started to notice parents heading to the store to set their kids up with back-to-school supplies. Pencils, notebooks, calculators and backpacks are all important to a child’s academic success and self-esteem, but they can also be expensive, especially for your neighbours already on a tight budget. Any major expenses can be hard on a family, and when finances get strained the tough solution for many parents is to skip meals to make up the difference.

    Long-time North York Harvest partner Brand Active had noticed the financial strain of back to school shopping, and decided that they wanted to help. They reached out to North York Harvest and before you knew it, a plan was in place.

    Yesterday 22 Brand Active employees came to the NYH warehouse with 500 brand new back packs. Working as a team, the employees spent the morning carefully filling each back pack with school supplies that the Toronto District School Board had identified to them as the most crucial to a student’s success.  After a few hours, the bags were packed and ready to be distributed to children throughout the community. Mission accomplished, right? Wrong. Brand active was just getting started.

    The bags were packed in to cars and sent to one of our member agencies, the Room to Grow Community Food Bank in Toronto’s west end.  The Brand Active team joined the volunteers there to set up Room to Grow’s first ever Back to School Community BBQ. Throughout the afternoon Brand Active volunteers grilled burgers, hosted games, and painted faces. At the end of the event over 400 families got brand new back packed filled with school supplies for their kids.

    “We’ve partnered with NYH for several years and support them throughout the year.  But we wanted to do more than just write a cheque. We wanted to engage all our employees and give back to our community.  This was something special that went over and above the other ways we work with them.  It’s not food.  We realize that’s a bit odd given we are working with a food bank,” said Robynne Budish, Brand Active’s Principle Partner. “But for every backpack we hand out we are saving families anywhere from $50 -$60 that they would have to spend on schools supplies.  That’s a lot of food they can buy instead.”

    If you’re feeling inspired by Brand Active’s story, and want to find your own creative way to help your neighbours in need, we’re here to help. Email kyle@northyorkharvest.com and he’ll work with you to create your own plan of action. You can also register to host a food and fund drive, sign up for volunteer food sorting, or to make donation to North York Harvest through our website today.