Tag Archive: food bank client

  1. Welcome to Bathurst-Finch Community Food Space

    Comments Off on Welcome to Bathurst-Finch Community Food Space

    Bathurst-Finch in Photos

    A volunteer wearing a North York Harvest Food Bank apron holds a crate of fresh food in a food bank setting.

    Welcome to the Bathurst-Finch Community Food Space! It’s North York Harvest’s busiest food space, located in the Westminster-Branson community at the Herb Carnegie Centennial Centre. Follow along to learn more about Bathurst-Finch and the community we serve.

    A person lifts a box of food off of a pile and loads it onto a cart outside a food bank. In the background, someone unloads several more skids from a delivery truck.

    The North York Harvest delivery truck arrives in the morning with food for the week’s programs. In addition to essential non-perishable food received from the community, North York Harvest works with several partner organizations to procure high-quality fresh foods including meat, dairy and produce.

    A bag of potatoes are poured into a wooden bin with shelves of food visible in the background.

    Volunteers get to work unpacking the day’s deliveries onto the shelves and into the fridges ahead of service in the afternoon.

    Bathurst-Finch has three program days a week, serving over 3800 client visits per month.

    A person wearing a grey sweater smiles as they stand in a food bank.

    Bathurst-Finch has a dedicated team of nearly 40 volunteers who help out on a regular basis, including Jesse! Jesse has been with us since September, helping out with everything from client registration to receiving shipments, and helping our community engagement team with advocacy initiatives. 

    “As a person who has required food banks for most of my life, it feels good to be able to provide back to a service that has provided to me,” Jesse says.

    His favourite moment of volunteering so far was attending the Budget Rally in February 2025 at CIty Hall. The Community Engagement team mobilized 60+ food bank clients down to City Hall to attend the rally and hand-deliver petitions to our elected officials.

    A person in a red North York Harvest Food Bank sweater stands smiling in front of a banner that reads Welcome to Bathurst-Finch Community Food Space

    Julie has been working at North York Harvest since 2015, where she began as a student in community social work.

    “I like engaging with clients, you get to meet a lot of community members on different levels – not just inside the food space but in the community itself. 

    “For a lot of our members, this is their only option, it’s no longer a temporary solution. North York Harvest has been doing a lot of outreach at our food spaces to get more community members involved in our advocacy efforts to fight together for change.”

    A person stands behind the counter smiling at a food bank as they serve a client.

    North York Harvest uses a choice model as part of our commitment to dignified food assistance. Our volunteers show clients what is available on the shelves, and clients are able to choose what they would like to cook for themselves and their families. This allows clients to adhere to their own unique dietary or cultural restrictions, and it reduces food waste by not serving community members food they cannot use.

    An older adult is visible from behind as they wait to be served at the food bank. In the background, food bank staff pick food off of the shelves.

    Bathurst-Finch serves a diverse community from all walks of life, including many clients of Filipino and Ukrainian descent.

    Our Bathurst-Finch Community

    • Nearly 20% of client visits are seniors
    • 1 in 4 are children and youth
    • 57% of clients are from 1 or 2-person households
    • In the past 6 months, 25% of clients served were first-time clients

    Rows of canned tuna and canned meat sit on a shelf at a food bank.

    “Like most Ukrainians, we lived very well in our country, not needing anything. Everything was abundant. No one expected a full-scale invasion… It’s very scary to be in another country without even being able to provide ourselves with food. So we are extremely grateful to the food bank for providing us with such support. “ – Diana, client

    Four food bank staff hold various food items standing in front of the shelves at a food bank.

    There’s a reason North York Harvest calls its food banks ‘community food spaces.’ Beyond emergency food support, these are welcoming spaces where clients can connect with one another and build relationships with our volunteers and staff. 

    It’s where they can access wraparound supports for other vital resources like clothing and health services that improve their quality of life.  It’s also where community members, whose concerns are often ignored by those in power, can find platforms to use their voice for change.

    Thank you for joining us at Bathurst-Finch, and thank you to our donors, 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.

  2. Our community mobilized for change – and won!

    Comments Off on Our community mobilized for change – and won!

    In December, the City of Toronto declared food insecurity an emergency.

    In the following two months, North York Harvest Food Bank collected hundreds of petition signatures, sent dozens of letters and gave deputations to urge every city councillor to pass a city budget that puts people first.

    For years North York Harvest has been making policy recommendations to government, but this year we mobilized our community like never before to take these issues to the doorstep of our decisionmakers and put them on notice.

    On the day of the official City budget deliberation, we brought a delegation of 60+ people from our community food banks and joined with other community members and organizations at the City Budget Rally outside City Hall.

    (In December our Community Action Group got together for an Art Build event, where North York Harvest clients made signs and posters. The event was a platform for our community to connect with one another on issues that are impacting them every day and use their voice for real change.)

    After the rally, we went into City Hall to deliver petitions to our elected officials, calling for them to support the following in the budget:

    A TTC fare freeze
    The TTC fare freeze means people won’t have to choose between transportation and their next meal.With food bank users having as little as $7.78 left per day after rent and utilities, even a small fare increase can make a big difference.

    More funding for renter supports
    Additional funding for RentSafeTO, the Toronto Rent Bank and the Tenant Support Program will help prevent evictions and protect affordable housing in Toronto.

    An expansion of the Student Nutrition Program
    With 1 in 4 food bank users being a child, access to nutritional food at school is life-changing.

    More funding for drop-in meal programs
    Drop-ins are providing life-saving meals to Toronto’s most vulnerable populations, and adding $530,000 to the Creating Health Plus budget would ensure these vital programs would at least be able to operate with the same level of funding as last year. 

    And together … we won!

    Dozens of people holding protest signs stand together during a rally outside City Hall

    Thanks to the advocacy of our community, the meaningful action of Mayor Olivia Chow and many city councillors, and the support of our donors who make this work possible, more children will have meals, more renters will have support, drop-in meal programs will continue to be able to serve vulnerable communities, and budgets won’t get squeezed even further by transit costs.

    Together we make change happen!

  3. A Home for Holly

    Comments Off on A Home for Holly

    This week’s guest blog is a client story by Holly.  Thank you so much Holly for sharing your story!

    Guest blog by Holly B

    My name is Holly and for most of my adult life I have been transient. 

    I also suffer with mental health and physical problems. I am unable to work and found it very hard to settle down. Although for the last couple of years I have found permanent housing. I thought I would be able to do everything on my own.

    I was able to pay my rent, phone and medications with the little money I had. Food was always last.  Being a type 1 diabetic that takes insulin every day, eating properly is very important. I soon found that I could not do everything on my own. I found the closest food bank to me and soon found out I was receiving more than help with my food.  I found a sense of community. I was meeting new people and gave me a good reason to get out of my house and not isolate myself. 

    At this point in my life I was in a bad relationship and the woman who patiently listens to everyone and their problems every Thursday offered me a opportunity to give back to the community and separate myself from my partner at the time. I was given the gift to help every week with deliveries. Now not only have I made new friends, community, help with food in my fridge, I was also given the gift to give back. I no longer just have a place to live, I have a home! 

    Subscribe to our mailing list

    * indicates required