Comments Off on Dave Matthews Rocks Out For North York Harvest
For me, summertime doesn’t get much better than spreading my blanket across a sunny patch of grass and lying down to watch some beautiful live music. If you agree that this sounds like an ideal night out, you might be interested to know that next month you can see a great rock band, and support a great food bank, all in one fantastic evening.
On Tuesday, July 21st, Dave Matthews Band will be bringing their smooth sounds to the Molson Amphitheatre, and North York Harvest will be front and center at the event, mingling with the fans and collecting your food and fund donations.
There are a few ways you can support NYHFB at the show:
Bring your food donations to the show and drop them in our bins outside the gates of the venue.
Once you’re inside, support North York Harvest by picking up a Dave Matthews Band Nalgene bottle for a $10 donation. All the proceeds will be donated to a local farm, who in turn will give an in kind donation of fresh and healthy food to NYHFB.
During the concert look for our staff and volunteers (we’ll make ourselves visible) and come on over for a chat! We’ll be handing out some great materials, as well as collecting your generous donations.
The event is part of the Bama Green Project, a partnership between Dave Matthews and REVERB, which works to bring awareness to food security issues. For more information on this amazing project, check out this video.
We hope you can make it out for what’s going to be a fantastic night. For information on tickets, please visit Dave Matthew’s website. To get involved as a volunteer, please email leslie@northyorkharvest.com.
As you may have heard, North York Harvest Food Bank has a new home. To celebrate we’ve decided to throw a community BBQ as a chance to show off our beautiful new space, as well as get to meet our neighbours.
The BBQ will be an opportunity to enjoy some delicious food (thanks to our friends at Whole Foods), take part in fun activities, and mingle with folks from the neighbourhood. Bring the kids, the dog, the whole family!
Please check out the flyer below for all the details, and then take 30 seconds to RSVP. We’ll be confirming more exciting details over the next few weeks, so stay tuned to our Facebook and Twitter pages for all the details.
It’s been an exciting few months for the North York Harvest Food Bank. Our new Executive Director Ryan Noble joined the team in March, we’re currently tallying the numbers from our Spring Food Drive (more details coming soon), and over the next few weeks, we will begin the exciting process of moving into our new home.
As of June 1st, NYHFB’s main office and warehouse will be located at 116 Industry Street in Toronto’s Mt. Dennis neighbourhood. You might be wondering why we’re looking to make such a big move? Well, the answer is that we’ve long outgrown our current space in Lawrence Heights. Our new, larger facility has more space and capacity, allowing us to accept and distribute a greater quantity and quality of your food donations to our community food spaces and member agencies. This means more healthy food for your neighbors in need. And don’t worry – just because we’re moving doesn’t mean we are changing our services. We will still be providing food to all our agencies and clients in northern Toronto.
A few highlights of the new space include:
A bigger and more organized volunteer food sorting area
Additional food racking to hold your generous food donations
2 proper loading docks, greatly simplify our drop-offs and deliveries.
More space for forklifts, allowing for more efficient sorting and distribution.
A fridge triple the size our old one, and freezer double the size of our old one, allowing us to accept and distribute more of your fresh produce and food donations.
If you visited the Lawrence Heights location in the past probably noticed that we had a client serving food bank onsite. That service will not be moving over to the new office, but fear not, our clients now have access to the NYH – Mamma Caya Food Space located a short distance away.
At the end of the day, we believe this move puts us in a place ensuring that your donations can go further and help more people. This is next step in a long term vision for a city where no one goes hungry.
We look forward to creating memories with you at our new home, and want to start by inviting you to a Community BBQ on June 25th. We’ll be releasing details shortly, so stay tuned to our Event Calendar.
Comments Off on Thank You For Supporting Our Spring Food Drives
If you follow North York Harvest’s website or social media accounts, you’ve probably noticed that, over the last few months, we’ve been engaging our community to raise food and fund donations for three major campaigns.
Today we’re happy to announce that thanks to your donations and volunteer hours, we were able to raise an amazing $95,000 and 144,235 pounds of food across the three food drives! Your contributions will go a long way towards supporting your neighbours in need, and making sure that none of our clients go without this summer.
We’d like to send a special thank you to our Spring Drive supporting sponsor Hain Celestial for making the campaign possible. We’re very lucky to partner with such an amazing organization.
Thank you for your generosity and hard work. To continue to support your neighbours in need this summer, please donate today.
From May 2nd – 8th, North York Harvest Food Bank will be joining food banks across Canada for the Every Plate Full Food Drive.
This Summer 918,724 Canadians will access food banks. It’s a staggering number, and unfortunately, due to lower donations throughout the summer months, many food banks will struggle to keep up with the demand. This problem has sparked the Every Plate Full Food Drive, a campaign organized by Food Banks Canada, bringing food banks across the country together with the goal to fill the plates of every hungry Canadian this summer.
We at the North York Harvest Food Bank are thrilled to be a part of this initiative, and we need your donations to help make this drive a success. Every $1 you donate to NYHFB’s Every Plate Full Drive will provide 3 meals for someone in need.
This year we’ve set a big goal of 30,000 meals raised and we can’t get there without your help. Visit our Every Plate Full Drive page today to start a team, make a donation, or learn more about the campaign.
Comments Off on Agency Profile: Visiting Community Share Food Bank
It was a beautiful spring morning when I arrived at the Church of Ascension in Toronto’s Don Mills neighbourhood. I was there to visit Community Share Food Bank, one of the larger North York Harvest member agencies, who are trying to bring a higher degree of dignity to the food bank experience.
If you’re like me, you’ve probably created a composite sketch in your mind of what the typical food bank would look like: cramped quarters, long lines, and worried faces might come to mind. But walking in the front door of Community Share I was struck by the warm and familiar environment that was in front of me. I was greeted by several smiling volunteers who walked me past tables and chairs that were arranged throughout the large gymnasium space to create a waiting area that felt like a neighbourhood café. Clients sipped coffee, ate some cake and chatted with neighbours and volunteers.
“Sometimes people come just for the fellowship”, said Sherrie, a delightfully enthusiastic volunteer who has worked at community share for the past two years. “We have clients who will come multiple times before they take any donations; they just feel accepted and want to be part of a welcoming environment.”
Sherrie is one of the nearly 100 volunteers that help support Community Share’s weekly programs. The food bank runs twice weekly, on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and offers clients pre-made food hampers, as well as access to a clothing closet, and a referral service. On any given day they can serve up to 70 families.
Beyond food and clothing distribution the organization has evolved into a multi-purpose community agency partnering with neighbourhood organizations like Better Living, Overland School, Don Mills Family Health Team and Toronto Employment Services. They are currently working on building a community kitchen program in partnership with the Flemington Community Health Centre, and have a very successful and beautiful garden which provides produce to the food bank. They recently offered a Safe Food Handling training certification course that was well attended, and in the near future hope to offer a container gardening workshop.
When I remarked to Sherrie how upbeat the mood of the room was, she seemed happy, but unsurprised. “We try to make coming to the food bank a more intimate experience. We get to know our clients and try to find out what they need. Maybe that’s trying to remember their taste in food, or keeping an eye out for specialized clothing items like a warmer coat or maternity clothes.”
With food bank use up across the province, Community Share has seen an influx in first time users, and from what I saw it’s clear that they have endeavoured to make it their initial experience a dignified one. “Obviously most of these people are not in a place where they want to be”, said Sherrie. “We try to be extra welcoming, because it’s got to be difficult for new users, the idea that this is reality.”
When I spoke with Melissa, a client, she was candid about how hard the adjustment can be. “Many of the people who come here are smart people who had good jobs. But things can happen. I know, because they happened to me” she said. “I worked at a corporate company for 40 years, but had to leave after a very bad bout of depression. Soon my money ran out and I had to start coming here, which was difficult at first, but becomes easier after some repetition. It helps that everyone is so nice, and non-judgemental. “
Like many of the clients, Melissa also volunteers her time at Community Share, feeling a need to contribute to the place that had provided so much assistance. “I can’t imagine just coming here and getting the food. Being a volunteer gives me sense that I’m giving back, and working for what I’m getting”
When it comes to food distribution, Community Share works with North York Harvest Food Bank, and also has a small purchasing budget to make sure their shelves are full. Joyce, one of the longest serving volunteers has been with Community Share since the beginning and has seen first-hand the progress the organization has made. “I started volunteering here about 12 years ago, and it’s been exciting to watch whole thing grow over time” she told me. “The process has become so much more organized, and standardized which has allowed us to establish a better and more regular service”.
Still, she stressed that working at an organization so dependent on donations can be hard, and that sometimes the demand can outweigh their ability to provide. “One of our biggest problems is getting too much of one type of food, and not enough of another. We are always short on canned fish, canned fruits and vegetables, chickpeas and lentils. Diapers as well are something that our clients are consistently looking for, that we can’t always deliver.”
Around 11:30 am the food bank began to shut down for the day. Some clients had left by this point, but others stuck around to help pack up and share a few words with many of the volunteers. The warm, smiles that had greeted me when I first arrived had not faded away from frustration. Instead, people seemed more optimistic than ever. It was clear to me that Community Share has become more to its users then a place to get their next meal. To them it represented acceptance, understanding and hope for the future.
To support our member community agencies like Community Share, please make a donation to the North York Harvest Food Bank today.
Comments Off on What does the Federal Budget mean for donors in Canada?
If you’ve ever made a donation to a charity in Canada, you know that your gift is usually eligible to receive a tax receipt. This probably wasn’t your biggest motivator for giving, but it helps. This week you might have read about the new Federal Budget, and like us, you might be curious about what some of these changes will mean for donors and charities in Canada. The good news is a series of new tax rules will make it easier than ever for you to support your favourite charities in the future.
The biggest change? As of 2017, you will be able to donate proceeds from the sale of your private company or real estate without having to pay capital gains tax. What does this mean? Well, let’s say you sold some property and were looking to donate a part of the proceeds to charity. Under the old laws you would first have had to pay a tax on the profit of the sale, and could then donate a portion of the remaining amount. With the new rules you could donate first and only pay tax on the remaining amount. In short – more money to the charity and less money to the government (it’s estimated that the rule will cost the government about $265 million over the next four years).
This change reminds me of the 2006 budget; when the federal government allowed us to donate shares in publicly traded companies, tax free. These changes boosted charitable giving in Canada by an estimated 1 billion dollars a year. It’s a staggering statistic, and now with even more ways to donate, charities are hoping that these numbers will continue to go up.
Jacline Nyman, CEO of United Way Centraide Canada, seemed very optimistic about the results when quoted in Wednesday’s Globe and Mail.
“If people can look at transferring major assets like real estate or private securities, this is a really exciting moment in time. In my experience, donors do look at their out-of-pocket expense post-tax, so it does really encourage a greater amount of philanthropy.”
Not everyone is so optimistic. Michael McKnight, president and CEO of United Way of the Lower Mainland in British Columbia told Business Vancouver he thinks “this will affect only a small number of larger donors and a few select charities.” Maybe he’s right. What does seem likely is that these exemptions will be much more attractive to wealthier donors that typically give larger amounts to larger charities.
One key charitable tax change not included in the budget was the proposed “Stretch Tax Credit for Charitable Giving”. The tax would reward donors with a more generous tax credit rate of 39%, if they increased their donations over and above what they had given on average in the last five years. The tax credit would also attract first time donors who would have receive a higher tax break for their donation.
“At a time when giving has been stagnant or even declining, the Stretch would have made it easier for all Canadians to give more to their favourite causes,” said Bruce MacDonald, President and CEO of Imagine Canada. The advocacy group lobbied strongly in favour of the stretch tax and maintain that it should be a top priority for future budgets.
At the end of the day the budget sends a clear message. The government believe in the power of your charitable donations and want to invest in Canadian philanthropy. Incentivizing your donations, and giving you more flexibility, should financially benefit the charitable sector, and aid our effort to help build strong communities. There is still work to be done, but this is a step in the right direction that should show positive impacts in the near future.
May 10th, 2015. North York Harvest Food Bank Mother’s Day Food Sort.
Spring is definitely in the air, and with that comes picnics in the park, hot dogs at the ballpark, and barbecues in the backyard. It’s a time to celebrate family, but at the same time, it’s also a time for us to consider our neighbours need.
That’s why North York Harvest is inviting you to our Mother’s Day Food Sort, where we’ll come together to package food for our member agencies. The event will also celebrate the conclusion of the Every Plate Full Food Drive, a national food drive that NYH is doing in partnership with Food Banks Canada.
When: Sunday, May 10th, 2015. 10:00 am – 12:00 pm.
Where: North York Harvest Lawrence Heights Community Food Bank. 640 Lawrence Avenue West M6A 1B1
