Every day, people in your community rely on food banks to put food on the table for their families. In fact, North York Harvest helps more than 15,000 people meet their basic food needs each month. Many people don’t know that over 30% of people using our food bank are children – and a growing number of them in our community will be going back to school this year without enough food to be healthy and successful in school.
Tricia is a teacher at Beaumonde Heights Junior Middle School, one of our local schools. She sees many students coming to school with empty stomachs. Her students understand what it is like to use a food bank – either because their own family uses one, or one of their friends.
Beaumonde Heights JMS has hosted food drives for North York Harvest for 15 years, and this year is no different. All students get involved in the food drive to support their school, friends and neighbours. They know just how important these programs are.
Of course, childhood hunger is a symptom of family poverty. North York Harvest and our agencies are on the frontlines of a childhood poverty epidemic: according to a recent report, nearly 27% of children in Toronto live in poverty. In the North York community, that percentage is much higher. In some of our neighborhoods, almost 44% of children are living in poverty – and are much less likely to have access to enough healthy food to be successful in school.
We are facing serious challenges in this community. But every day, we are inspired by acts of compassion from people like Tricia who are determined to make a difference in the lives of kids in North York.
Today you can take action to join Tricia and the students from Beaumonde Heights in making a difference for kids heading back to school this fall. By making a gift to North York Harvest Food Bank you will be helping thousands of kids and their parents that rely on programs that provide healthy meals and snacks.
All children, no matter where they live or what their circumstances, deserve the same opportunity to succeed.
Comments Off on Community Food Spaces The North York Harvest Food Bank offers a number of programs and services in addition to our warehousing and distribution operations. Our top priority in running these spaces is to have incredible customer service for anyone that comes to our programs.
Find out more about each of these amazing community spaces and those that we serve in these programs.
Learn more about Oriole Food Space
Learn more about Bathurst Finch Community Food Bank
Learn more about Lawrence Heights Community Food Space
Oriole Food Space
The Oriole Food Space, located in the Oriole Community Centre at 2975 Don Mills Road West, is a multi-use community food space designed to build a healthy community, together, through food. It does so by offering a variety of programs, including community kitchens, drop-in food bank hours, food skills workshops, gardening workshops, and farm trips.
Bathurst Finch Community Food Space
The Bathurst-Finch Community Food Bank supports local individuals and families with food assistance and helps to create connections with other neighbourhood resources. The program also works to foster community participation and action around food-related issues and it will regularly host visiting agencies, deliver workshops and run field trips for participants.
Lawrence Heights Community Food Space
The Lawrence Heights Community Food Space is located at 6 Pengarth Ct. The program provides an on site community food bank, community garden, as well as information and referral services to a wide range of community resources and supports, extending beyond food assistance.
Would you like to support these amazing programs?
We're always looking for donors to sponsor daily food bank activities, community kitchens, community gardens, farm trips and events that mean so much to our community members! Contact Leslie to get involved - 416-635-777 x 21 / leslie@northyorkharvest.com
There has been quite a lot of talk about basic income lately in the news. A basic income is a guarantee to Canadian families and individuals that they will be able to meet a minimum income level regardless of employment status.
This could mean big things for the hundreds of thousands of people in Toronto that struggle to make ends meet to pay for everyday needs such as rent, utilities, transit and food.
This has come up for a lot of debate among Canadians. It also raises a lot of questions about the impact on our communities and economy. In an effort to answer some of the most asked questions about basic income, I spoke with Elaine Power, co-founder of the Kingston Action Group for Basic Income Guarantee.
How do you think basic income will benefit the community?
If we had a basic income program that was available to all who needed it and a basic income program that effectively eliminated poverty, there could be dramatic benefits to the community. The research suggests that public health would improve and health care costs would drop. Eliminating poverty means that kids would have a better start in life, do better in school and have fairer chances in life, and this could also decrease crime rates over time.
If we take away the desperate need for people to find any kind of work that they can, it could liberate people to engage their passion and contribute to their communities through volunteer work and the arts, or to take risks, e.g., with a small business, that they wouldn’t otherwise do. When people have basic economic security, it enables them to dare to do new & different things.
I believe that a basic income program will help build social solidarity, to rebuild a sense of the collective, that we are part of neighbourhoods and communities.
How will this impact the economy & the taxpayer?
People who live in poverty spend their money on basic necessities, like food, shelter, clothing, activities for their kids. They won’t be taking their money out of the country for expensive vacations. That will have an economic multiplier effect, and could make a profound impact in smaller, more rural communities that are struggling.
Research shows that poverty has a high economic cost and that poverty reduction has a big return on investment. A report by the Ontario Association of Food Banks suggested “With the huge savings that could be achieved over time by reducing poverty and its burdensome social costs, the province could very likely pay for the need mix of policies without asking taxpayers for anything more.” The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives has calculated that every dollar invested in reducing poverty would result in about a $2 return on investment. In other words, poverty reduction is at worst cost-neutral and likely would save money over time.
Do you feel as though there could be any negatives/drawbacks that come from having a basic income?
Well, the negatives or drawbacks depend on the type of basic income program that would get implemented. There are different models. Some on the political right would like to see the implementation of a basic income in order to reduce other government supports and services, like public housing. This would not improve the lives of people living in poverty or likely reduce poverty overall, because people would have to pay more of their income for what are now public services. We would not see the types of economic savings I mentioned above in that case.
I am a proponent of a progressive basic income that is part of rebuilding the social safety net, would improve the lives of people living in poverty and would result in dramatic reductions – or the virtual elimination – of poverty.
How will this affect the food bank and food bank users?
The best sign of the effectiveness of basic income or any poverty reduction/elimination strategy would be that food banks are able to close up because of lack of demand. Those who founded food banks back in the 1980’s thought that food banks were an “emergency” response to an economic downturn and that they would close once the economy improved. I have a report from a meeting of food banks in Toronto and area from 1991 that wrestles with the question of when and how Toronto food banks might close. An effective basic income would allow food bank users to acquire food like everyone else. They still might choose to attend hot meal programs, food skills programs, community gardens and community kitchens – but there will be more freedom and choice to do that, not a sense of dire need.
Is the proposed amount of $16,989 enough to get by for individuals?
Like social assistance, the problem with a fixed amount is that the cost of living varies quite a lot across the province – from Toronto to Windsor to northern Ontario. As I understand it, the rationale for making it less than the LICO ( low income cut-offs) or the LIM ( Low Income Measure) is that people will get other federal income transfers, like the GST credit. But I suppose part of the idea of the pilot is to assess if the amount is enough.
Others, like Guy Caron, who is a candidate in the federal NDP leadership race, has proposed a basic income that would be set using the Low Income Cut-off or LICO which is adjusted for city and family size.
What do you say about the idea from opposers that people will go on BI just to “stay home and be lazy”?
This is probably the most common oppositional response to the idea!!
If you ask people if they (personally) would just stay home, everyone says “of course not!.” The reality is that about 70% of people who live in poverty are working, which speaks to the inadequacy of minimum wages.
The reality is that any basic income, whether the Ontario pilot amount or an amount tied to the LICO, is not luxurious. Most people will want to seek paid employment to supplement their incomes. And most people work for reasons other than money.
And the other issue that this objection is based on is that the only work that is valuable is paid employment. We do all sorts of unpaid, unrecognized, invisible work at home and in our communities, including all the volunteer work that gets done for and at food banks. This is valuable and important work. What basic income will help us do is to decide where to put our time and energies in activities that are meaningful and important for us and for our communities. Some people may “stay home and be lazy” for a little while. Most people would not do that for very long – and if they do, perhaps they need other services to help them find meaningful activity.
The benefits of a progressive and effective basic income for those living in poverty and for our communities overshadow the objection that a small percentage of people might “stay home and be lazy.”
There are some pretty amazing and thoughtful kids in your community!
One of the greatest partnerships that NYH has in the community is with our local schools. The partnership allows us to educate students about food security in their community and show them why people they know such as schoolmates or even friends and family use a food bank. In turn, students take on a very large and important role in advocating for support of everyone’s food needs. From food drives to fundraising, we are so incredibly grateful for these amazing kids!
Our guest blog is by Christmel, Ayse and Aishat in grades 4 & 5 at Blaydon Public School!
Fit Fair
Written by Christmel and Ayse, Presidents of Healthy Fit Company & Aishat, Production Manager (Grade 4/5)
On April 26, 2017, the grade 4/5 class, with the help of some grade 3 students, organized and ran a Fit Fair! There were all kinds of activities with the goal of helping our school community stay fit. From smoothies to basketball, yoga to origami and so much more!
Our main goal was to donate $300 to North York Harvest Food Bank, but we ended up raising $1082! It was a lot of planning and organizing but it was a great success. Representatives from the North York Harvest Food Bank visited our class the week after our event and told us that of all of the schools that have fundraised for them, we were the school that raised the most. That means, we were able to provide over 3000 much needed meals!
We thought the Fit Fair made the most sense with our vision of helping our school become healthier and more fit. And since food plays an important role in being healthy, we decided to donate all the profits to the food bank. At this time of year, the food banks have more need than supply, so this was the perfect opportunity to help out! This was an amazing experience for everyone that took part. With our hard work and your involvement and generosity, we all made this wonderful act of giving a reality at Blaydon PS!
Great work promoting healthy eating and living in your community! Thank you Blaydon PS!
Are you interested in getting your school involved in a food drive? Check out the Food Drive Kit.
Would you like to join us in providing healthy food for members of your community? Make a donation!
One everyday hero located right in your community is Kayla*. I recently had the opportunity to meet Kayla at the North York Harvest Annual General Meeting back in February. We were in a workshop together and she shared her experiences as a food bank volunteer. I needed to hear more so I could share her story with you.
Kayla has been a volunteer at her local food bank for more than two years dedicating her time six days per week. This is quite incredible as Kayla suffers from many health issues such as a degenerative disk disease in her back, panic attacks, insomnia and is waiting to have knee surgery. This doesn’t stop our hero though; she chooses to work through the pain to make a difference in the lives of her neighbours in need. “If I could have sleepovers here I would!” jokes Kayla.
Kayla’s tasks at the food bank include receiving deliveries, stocking shelves, serving clients and records management. She even packs and delivers food hampers for the “Fresh Start” program that does home deliveries for seniors as well as those unable to physically make it to the food bank.The services she and her other fellow volunteers provide benefit children, families, seniors, those with disabilities and people who can’t leave their home.
A typical food hamper from a NYH food bank
Regardless of Kayla’s health problems, she feels that giving her time at the food bank gives her something else to focus on and a purpose. She strives to make a difference in the lives of her fellow neighbours. This can be done through her daily food bank tasks or even going above and beyond to help someone in need. One particular story of Kayla’s is a time that she was able to assist a client with her job search. The client had needed to know CPR in order to be eligible for a job but could not afford the training. Kayla took the time to research and found a course that was offered for free.
Kayla told me that seeing a smile on the face of someone she has helped is so rewarding in her work.
It absolutely blows me away when I see this kind of dedication from volunteers. And it is throughout the network! Each day volunteers take time out of their day to come in and help their neighbours meet their food needs.
Without your support, we wouldn’t be able to have incredible stories like this to share.From you to me, me to Kayla, Kayla to the client and back to you again – we are really part of something bigger than ourselves. I feel that being able to share these stories truly closes the circle of connectivity in our community
Join Kayla in being a community hero!
Together we all work as a community to make a difference for more than 15,000 people that access these types of programs each month!
Many things have changed to improve our lives over the past 20 years. In the 90’s cell phones were most regularly seen on television, and even then they were huge and clunky. Video calls, now an every day occurrence, were the stuff of science fiction movies. We’ve made progress on a lot of fronts, but sadly, dealing with poverty is not one of them.
Ontario just released Budget 2017 – A balanced budget for a stronger, healthier Ontario, which includes new measures to support low income individuals in our province, such as universal drug coverage for youth, a basic income pilot project and a 2% increase in social assistance rates. These are welcome developments to be sure, but still fall far short of addressing the challenges faced by people living in poverty.
As we all know, the cost of living, especially in Toronto, has skyrocketed over the past 20 years. Housing, energy, transportation and food costs have all risen dramatically. But our social safety net has not only not kept pace, it’s lagged shockingly behind.
In 1993 a single person receiving benefits from Ontario Works received $663 per month, or $1,010 in today’s dollars. Today, that rate is just over $700. Imagine trying to live in the city of Toronto for $700 per month. The combination of higher costs of living and decreased levels of social assistance drive people into chronic, grinding poverty, and force them to make tough choices, like pay the rent or feed their families.
We know that food insecurity is not caused by a lack of food, but insufficient money with which to purchase food. It’s made worse by other public policy deficiencies, such as lack of affordable housing, lack of affordable childcare, and a meagre minimum wage.
Social assistance in the past has been put into place to help prevent people from falling into chronic poverty during tough times due to something such as a job loss, serious illness or disability. This is causing many to make tough choices with their limited resources. Most spend 70-80% of their money on rent alone. After paying non flexible bills such as rent and utilities, people on these programs are left with just $7.91 per day to pay for necessities such as food, childcare or transit fare. Many people in this position make the choice to forgo a meal just to get by.
Our policy choices in these areas are not without their costs. When people can’t afford to live healthy, dignified lives, we all pay the price in lost human potential, intergenerational poverty, higher health care costs and poverty-related crime. In a recent report, Social Planning Toronto pegs the cost of poverty in our city at $5.5 billion per year.
The time to change the conversation about poverty in our communities is long overdue. Let’s take this time to reflect on the kind of communities we want to live in. Let’s ask ourselves what kind of lives we want for ourselves and our fellow citizens. And let’s make our voices heard.
You want the best when it comes to the food you eat. There’s no way you’d want something old, mouldy or funky smelling in your food.
It’s the same here at the food bank.
Food safety is extremely important. Safety measures are taken into consideration before the food even makes it into the warehouse. Our hardworking operations team ensures not to bring in food that may be hazardous to members of our community. Items like this can include damaged items, foods with missing labels and nutritional products that have expired.
Not only do we want everyone to meet their food needs in the community, we want them to enjoy their food safely.
As you may know, we prefer to take non-perishable food items from donations (canned goods, boxed items, etc.) to ensure we can get these items out to the public without safety issues. But…
Did you know…
Even though we are grateful for amazing donations from the community, there are just some items that we CANNOT accept. These items include:
Food products that are not identifiable or that have ingredients that are not identifiable (missing label or label written in a language other than English/French)
Partially consumed foods (open packaging)
Unpasteurized foods
Home preserves and canned items (jams, jellies, pickles etc.)
Meats, dairy and other high risk items that are not directly from a processor or store e.g. turkeys that have been in your freezer; you may assure us that that turkey has never been defrosted but because we don’t know that 100% we cannot accept it, sorry!
These guidelines make sure that people using the food banks don’t get sick from foods they consume.
Did you know…
There is a difference between Best Before and Expiry Dates. When it comes to packaged foods the dates can get a little confusing. Here are some tips to tell the difference between dates.
A best before date is simply the promise of the manufacturer that the food in the package will be of highest quality. It is not an indication of food safety.
Many times a best before date is not necessary and mostly used to indicate when the quality of food will begin to decrease (a change in taste and texture).
The only items REQUIRED to have expiry dates are baby formulas, meal replacements, formulated liquid diets and nutritional supplements. These items must be thrown out past the expiry date as the should NOT be consumed. This is because the nutritional content cannot be guaranteed beyond the expiry date and the nutritional content is very important for babies, the sick and the elderly.
We will accept foods up to three months past their best before date because we know that they are safe. However, in order to protect our community members’ dignity we prefer to receive donations of food that have at least 3 months remainingbefore their best before date.
Food Recalls
You may have seen food recalls on the news, specifically the latest one about Baby Food. These recalls affect the food bank and food bank clients.
How might a food be recalled?
Illness outbreak
Food tests identify a health risk
An inspection by CFIA detects a safety concern
A recall of the item in another country
The company initiates a recall
Other issues can arise such as food tampering
Recalls are taken very seriously at the food bank. These items are removed from our shelves and notices are sent out. If these items have already made it into people’s homes, we alert them and contact Toronto Public Health.
Ensuring public safety when it comes to food handling and distribution is one of our top priorities. If you join us for a food sorting session, you will be trained on how to identify the safety of the food you’re sorting. Remember: When in Doubt, Throw it Out!
What do you usually do on Family Day? The holiday is not even a decade old but has already given millions of Canadians an extra day off during the year to take a break and enjoy time with family.
Kathy, Matthew and Christian volunteer regularly at the food bank as a family activity. We love having them around giving support and helping us out with corporate and community sort groups.
When I think of Family Day, I think about families doing something special together. And The Leeder-Chiarottos demonstrate that each day!
Matthew and Christian took some time to answer questions I had just in time for the upcoming holiday.
Tell us about yourselves
We are two brothers, 10 and 12 years old. We live in North York with our mom, dad and our two precious cats Sam and Dean.
How long have you been volunteering?
We have been volunteering with the North York Harvest Food Bank for about a year and a half now.
Why did you decide to volunteer as a family?
We decided to volunteer as a family because we feel pretty lucky for everything that we have. My mom is big on helping others so she wanted us to learn to do the same. There is a lot of negative in the world and we would like to be the positive.
Why choose to volunteer with the food bank?
When you volunteer you need to choose wisely about how you will spend your time. There are not a lot of volunteer opportunities for kids our age that are interesting or that you can get promoted for doing good work.
My mom looked at a bunch of different things for us to do together and when she spoke to Lisa at North York Harvest, she was really positive about us coming in. We love to cook as a family and volunteering with food seemed like a good fit.
Since joining the team, we have had the chance to sort food, help with corporate groups as well as promote the food bank to the community. We have learned a lot about the problems people face putting good food on their tables at home.
Matthew & Christian with MPP Laura Albanese
What is your favourite part about volunteering as a family?
We like volunteering together because we talk and have fun. We meet interesting people and learn from everyone we connect with. After we sort food together or work with a corporate group we feel great. You know that you are making a difference with your family and that’s rewarding.
“You know that you are making a difference with your family and that’s rewarding”
What do you do outside of volunteering?
Outside of volunteering we play a lot of hockey in the winter and golf and tennis in the summer. We hang out with our friends and travel with our parents.
What do you tell your friends about your volunteering experience?
I tell them it is a great experience. Volunteering has changed my life and how I view things. I see that people are less fortunate than I am and I want to help people more. – Christian
The atmosphere at the food bank is great. Everyone is very friendly. Our friends have all asked us if they could come to sort food and help out. When we come to the food bank we don’t see the people who donate and we don’t see the clients that receive the food but we see all the people that come together in the middle to make it happen. Working with all these people, with their own reasons for volunteering, is so fascinating, uplifting and rewarding. Who knew that checking expiry dates, sorting food, making boxes, weighing all the donations could bring so many people together. – Matthew
Any memorable stories you’d like to share?
Last Christmas we were asked if we could help deliver some Christmas presents for one of the Food Bank programs. We all went out over the weekend to make sure that the kids received their gifts. All the kids were so happy to receive something special for themselves. It was moving because we were helping people get their Christmas. We were happy for our own Christmas because we were part of this experience.
One of the corporate groups we worked with was so cool that they decided to do a mannequin challenge during the food sorting. We had been in a flash mob before but never a mannequin challenge. Once everyone stopped laughing we all froze into position while they filmed. They put it to music and posted it on YouTube.
What would you say to someone that was thinking of becoming a volunteer?
Definitely don’t just think about volunteering. Volunteer! Even if you are a kid you can make a difference.
What are your family day plans?
We will make breakfast for our parents because we make wicked pancakes. We’ll probably play a few games. Watch an episode of the X Files. Chill with our cats. Make dinner together in a family master chef challenge
It’s so great hearing about different volunteer experiences! It truly enriches the lives of not only the person benefiting from the service, but also the volunteers themselves.
Thank you so much to Kathy, Matthew and Christian for making a huge difference in the warehouse and in the community!
This has come up for a lot of debate among Canadians. It also raises a lot of questions about the impact on our communities and economy. In an effort to answer some of the most asked questions about basic income, I spoke with 
Fit Fair
