Tag Archive: food bank

  1. Hunger and Halloween

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    Boo!

    It’s that time of year again where we all get dressed up in our favourite costumes and scare up some fun.

    One thing that is truly scary though, is hunger in Canada.  Did you know that 13,000 of our neighbours use the food bank every month?  Another scary fact is that 1/3 of the food bank users are children.

    Yet with your help and the support of some fantastic initiatives put together by caring youth in our community, this Halloween can be about more than costumes and candy. This Halloween, join NYH and some wickedly awesome people to make hunger disappear.

    trick

    Trick or Eat is truly a great initiative put on by youth in Canada.  During Halloween, thousands of students from across Canada will go door to door collecting food and funds for community organizations (like North York Harvest)!  It’s a great experience for young people to come together as a community and make a difference when it comes to hunger in Canada.

    In preparation for Trick or Eat – Meal Exchange has organized a #TweetUp to discuss hunger in Canada.  We hope you can join us!

    We will be discussing food insecurity in Canada. What people are doing about it and what impact the newly elected federal government could have on the issue.

    Then when you go trick-or-treating on Saturday, don’t forget to ask people to give you a food item along with your candy.

    So come join the #TweetUp on Wednesday October 28th from 2pm-3pm EST using the hashtag #TrickOrEat and following @nyhfb and @mealexchange 

    RSVP on Facebook!

     

    We-Scare-Hunger

    We Scare Hunger is an initiative to assist with the growing food bank use in Canada.  This Halloween, Instead of just trick or treating, join NYH and Free the Children, to collect non-perishable items for the food bank.  What a great way for your kids to help others while having fun at the same time!

    So sign up today!  All it takes is a group of generous individuals like you to get together and dress up for the cause.  Not only will you get to help over 13,000 people that use NYH food banks every month but you might get some candy too!

    Signing up is easy!  Contact Leslie leslie@northyorkharvest.com , put on your costume and get ready to Trick-or-Treat on Saturday.

    This Halloween, let’s trick or treat for a city without hunger.

  2. 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.

  3. 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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  4. 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.

  5. Sending Kids To School Hungry Puts Them At Risk

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    When was the last time you got hangry? It might be funny word, but it’s a very real feeling and we’ve all been there. If you’re like me, when you get really hungry, everything else, whether its work, studying or friends, shifts to the back-burner and you turn into an irritable, unfocused and checked out person. Sounds awful right? Well, the good news for you and me, is that this probably doesn’t happen all that often. We usually have access to lots of healthy, filling foods that keep our energy up and moods happy throughout the day. But what if this wasn’t just an occasional feeling and your hunger interfered with your happiness and productivity on a daily basis?

    It probably won’t surprise you to hear that a child needs a good breakfast and lunch each day to stay engaged and focused in school. Studies have shown that students who go to school hungry lack effort and motivation in the classroom, have trouble interacting with their teachers and classmates, and often have poor academic performance. But what if I told you that every day in Canada, nearly 1 in 7 children will go to school hungry? It’s a startling statistic that has short term and long term implications for children in our communities.

    Not only is hunger robbing our children of a great learning and social experience, but it’s also hurting their chances of becoming engaged and productive community members, and seriously jeopardizing their future economic stability.

    We know that when kids eat a full, healthy breakfast they usually have better attendance, are more attentive in the classroom, and have fewer disciplinary problems. So why are so many children going without?

    Unfortunately, for many parents in our community struggling with poverty, going without food is often the solution to making ends meet. In a recent poll, 54% of North York Harvest clients said that they regularly skip meals in order to pay for things like rent, utilities, healthcare and transportation. Putting food on the family table might seem essential, but when you stack it against these other things, you can see how a good breakfast or a healthy lunch often doesn’t make it into the family budget.

    That’s why we need you to ensure that next month every child is starting the day with a good breakfast, and is heading to school with a healthy packed lunch.

    Right now, every $1 you donate to North York Harvest can provide 3 meals to a family in need. That means that a $20 donation could feed 2 children breakfast every day for a month, or a donation of $40 could help pack a school lunch for 3 children for 2 months.

    Your donation will not only provide good food for healthy meals, but will also help to build a community with more academically successful and actively engaged young citizens.

    Let’s send our children back to school with the food that they need to thrive!

    Please donate today.

  6. Group Food Sorting Season Is Here

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    During the fall more and more of your food donations start to come through the door, and while that’s fantastic news for many of our community members, it creates the need for more volunteers in our warehouse. One group of volunteers that we rely heavily on during the fall and winter are our group food sorters. Every day thousands of pounds of food  that you have raised through your food and fund drives, come into our warehouse and we need to make sure that this food is checked for expiry dates and damages and then sorted into the appropriate categories so that it can be sent out to agencies as quickly as possible.

    Last year we had over 2000 volunteer food sorters come through our warehouse sorting an incredible 300,000 pounds of your food donations. That’s 30,000 hampers of healthy food for our neighbours in need.

    Families, co-workers, classrooms, church groups, Girl Guide troops, and hockey teams all ran food and fund drives and then came though our doors looking for a great bonding experience that would make a difference to their community. All of them left at the end of the day with smiles of their faces knowing they had done a great thing for their neighbours in need.

    Now the time has arrived for a new season of group food sorting and we need your help!

    If you’re interested in group  food sorting there are a few different ways to get involved:

    1) If you are a 360 Partner or a Corporate Sponsor of North York Harvest you can register your team for food sorting RIGHT NOW! Please email fawad@northyorkharvest.com, and he’ll make sure your team has everything they need to get going.**

    2) General Registration opens on September 1st. Please email fawad@northyorkharvest.com for more information about how to register your group.

    3) If you don’t have a group but are still looking to make a difference, please click here to learn more about volunteer opportunities.

    Lets make this fall a record setting season! Talk to your co-workers, your friends and your family and get them on your team.

    We can’t wait to see you in the warehouse!

    Food Sorting Times

    Tuesday 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm

    Tuesday 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm (typically reserved for families)

    Thursday 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm

    Friday** 10:00 am – 12:00 pm

    Friday** 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm

    ** to find out more about how you can become a VIP Partner or a Corporate Sponsor of North York Harvest email michelle@northyorkharvest.com

  7. Ramadan Campaign “Give 30” Supports NYH

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    Every now and then I think about the amount of money I’ve spent on the little pleasures of life. An iced coffee on a hot day, a sandwich from the deli, an Uber ride to save a bit of time. It doesn’t seem like a lot in the moment, but when these things become part of my day to day, the numbers really start to add up. One Toronto resident was thinking the same thing, and now, along with hundreds of community members, he’s spreading the message that your small savings can add up to big impacts.

    A few years back, Toronto lawyer Ziyaad Mia and a friend were having a laugh about all the money they were saving by forgoing their daily lunch and coffee during Ramadan, the 9th month of the Islamic calendar when Muslims fast from dawn to sunset. The joke gave Ziyaad an idea. What if this extra cash, saved as a result of his fasting, could go towards helping the millions of people across Canada experiencing real hunger?

    Ziyaad brought the idea to his family and friends, and before he knew it he had started Give 30, an annual fundraising campaign designed to fight hunger in Canada. During Give 30 participants of all faiths, fast or take other measures to save during the day, and then donate the proceeds to their local food bank. Skipping a coffee, or a store bought lunch might not seem like a huge sacrifice, but after 30 days the savings are significant. Going into its fourth year the campaign has raised over $250,000 for food banks across the country!

    The campaign’s timing couldn’t be better. Give 30 runs at a crucial point for food banks like North York Harvest, as food and fund donations generally hit yearly lows during the summertime. Even a small donation of $20 would be enough to feed 4 children at a youth shelter for an entire month.

    So what are you waiting for? Grab a group of friends and make a game plan to save your change over the next month. Bring a home-made sandwich for lunch, brew your own coffee, or ride your bike to work. Your spare change will make a huge impact to a neighbour in need.

    Give 30 launches on June 11th but you can start making contributions right now! Head on over to their website today and make a donation to a fantastic campaign.

  8. Catelli Pasta, Top Chefs & Feeding Hope

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    Whether you’re an athlete trying to fuel up before the big event, or a family settling in for a good meal, more often than not pasta is a very welcome addition to any dinner table. I know for me, nothing beats cooking up a fresh lasagna with a group of friends, or enjoying warm bowl of spaghetti after a long day. That’s why I was so excited to find out that Catelli Pasta was spearheading a project that would allow pasta lovers like me to expand their cooking horizons with some great new recipes, and support their local food bank at the same time.

    The campaign is called Help Us Feed the Hope, and its working to help pasta fans make a difference through their everyday shopping and cooking. Since April, Catelli has been running a coast-to-coast in-store promotion where they donate a serving of pasta to food banks nationally for every box of pasta purchased. “Summer is the slowest donation time for food banks, so this initiative helps the hungry when they need it most”, said Sandra Kim, Director of Marketing for Catelli. “Catelli is pleased to have the opportunity to help Canada’s food banks and make it easier than ever for Canadians across the country to join in the fight against hunger.”

    Feed the Hope also centres around a free on-line cookbook named the“Catelli Pasta Boost”. To create the cookbook Catelli teamed up a group of top chefs as well as some of Canada’s Pan Am Games athletes to create recipes that are both delicious, healthy and pack an energy boost. Each time you share the cookbook over Facebook, Catelli will donate one serving of pasta to a local food bank. Incredibly, just a few months into the campaign, Catelli has nearly hit its goal of 1 million servings donated!

    We at the North York Harvest got to see the impact of this amazing project first hand yesterday when chef Daniel Schick, executive chef at the King Edward Hotel in Toronto and cook book contributor, stopped by to donate of 13 skids of Pasta on behalf of Catelli. This donation will go a long way towards feeding our neighbours in need, especially during our slower summer months.

    Beside the fact that it helped to raise so many meals for our community, the cookbook is a real treat for any adventurous food lover. Recipes for Whole Wheat Linguini with Chicken Confit and Lemon Oil, Tortoglioni with Middle Eastern Chicken, and Wild Salmon Carbonara immediately got my mouth watering. But hey, don’t take my word for, check it out for yourself. It’s free and takes only a few seconds to access.

    Help a neighbour and need, and all I need to do is check out a great cook book? Seems like a no brainer right? Head on over to Catelli’s Facebook page and start making a difference today.