Tag Archive: year in review

  1. 2017 Round Up

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    Because of supporters like you, we spent 2017 working with our community to help our most vulnerable neighbours meet their food needs, and find long-term solutions to poverty and food insecurity.

    Here are some of our favourite moments.

    Gardens Galore!

    We had our first ever garden since moving to Pengarth Crt in Lawrence Heights, and were able to run multiple harvest festivals throughout the city.

    A joint garden-kitchen program with youth in partnership with PACT at the Lawrence Heights site, teaching kids about the importance of fresh food and healthy eating.

    We supported the first ever farmers market at the Bathurst Finch hub, and now there is a weekly good food market on site every Wednesday.

    Ensuring consistent service throughout our network of partner agencies

    All of our food banks and member agencies are different, but it’s important that no matter where people live in North York that they receive the same standard of service.

    This year we also took on a major network wide evaluation of our 19 catchment food banks, based on our Standard of Service. Clients at each site were surveyed and the programs were assigned a score out of 5 on areas such as accessibility, quality and quantity of food, customer service etc. We hope to repeat this assessment on an annual basis.

    Our AMAZING donors

    As always, our donors blow us away with incredible generosity and support of their community!  Young Zack is no different, in just the first grade he’s making a difference for his neighbours.  This past holiday season he popped by with cans of tuna that he purchased with his gift money.

    Stronger Together: Increasing Services and Impact

    We worked with many community agencies to bring enhanced programming and services to our members, including:

    • Toronto Public Health dental bus at Oriole Food Space.  This bus offered free dental care to those who otherwise would go without this necessity!
    • Smoking cessation workshops
    • Hearing tests for clients
    • Diabetes prevention and management programs
    • We launched the Community Food Works program in partnership with Toronto Public Health’s food strategy at Oriole; a program that teaches food handlers training and food skills to low income individuals. Our pilot at OFS was targeted to Arabic speaking newcomers.
    • A resident based advocacy and food security program
    • Several community kitchen programs

    Healthy Food Matters! Focusing our Food Drive on Priority Items

    This year we worked more intentionally with our fabulous food drive organizers to improve the quality of food we offer to our members. We asked them to hold single food item drives choosing from a list of 5 priority items: Rice, Oil, Canned Beans, Canned Seafood and Canned Tomatoes. These staples are versatile, nutrient-dense foods our network needs to maintain good health. Thanks to our incredible community who helped us answer the call for healthy food!

    Leadership in Logistics

    With the support from the Metcalf Foundation and The Learning Enrichment Foundation we have launched an exciting new program for individuals currently receiving Ontario Works. Aside from being a stepping stone in breaking the cycle of poverty, the program gives participants a chance to take charge of their own lives with the confidence and training to succeed in promising careers.

  2. Looking Back at 2016

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    2016 has come to a close.  It’s been quite the year, hasn’t it?  Whether you had a great year or can’t wait for 2017 to start, we can all agree that a lot has happened over the past 365 days.

    Here at NYH, there has been a lot of excitement and progress over the past year.  We’ve seen many accomplishments and triumphs thanks to our amazing clients, volunteers, donors, staff and supporters!  We wouldn’t have had such a terrific year without YOU!

    I asked my colleagues in the office, warehouse and on the front lines what their favourite memories of 2016 were and got quite an impressive response!

    I considered doing one of those end of year top ten lists but then realized that I can’t decide which is the best one!  So here, in no particular order, are some of the great milestones, achievements and moments from 2016!

    2016 was BIG for programs, partnerships, feedback and healthy eating!

    Of course I couldn’t start off without saying THANK YOU for providing food to people in our community!  This year we served more than 15,000 people every month and distributed over 2.3 MILLION lbs. of food!

    On top of putting food on the table for our neighbours in need, there were many other exciting things happening this year, including:

    Child Care Food Delivery

    This year NYH partnered with Learning Enrichment Foundation to bring healthy meals and snacks to over 1400 kids in childcare programs throughout the city.

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    Mission Kitchen

    For 3 months this year, NYH was able to run a community kitchen in the Lawrence Heights neighbourhood.  Each week, participants came together to learn cooking skills and enjoy a meal together.  Learn more about Mission Kitchen here!

    Food Handling Certificates and Meal Programs

    The Oriole Food Space ran a series of community kitchen programs in partnership with Flemingdon Health Centre and Working Women Community Centre, particularly aimed at Syrian refugees. We trained a group of almost 20 Arabic speaking newcomers in food handling and food safety, necessary skills in securing employment in the food sector.

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    Soup Production

    This year NYH got into the exciting world of food production! We partnered with FoodShare & Foodstarter to form a unique partnership to produce a soup that would help our community meet their food needs.  With the help of students and volunteers, we were able to produce a dry lentil soup that will be sold through FoodShare’s Good Food Boxes & Grab Some Good pop up markets.  Each soup sold will put a soup on the food bank shelf for someone hungry in the community.

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    Toronto Star Santa Hampers

    This was first year we were able to distribute a healthier hamper for those receiving the Toronto Star Santa Claus Fund Hampers.  Every hamper included perishable items including eggs, cheese, apples and more!

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    Farm Fresh

    Many of our clients were able to visit community farms in and around the city to see first hand where some of the fresh and nutritious produce that goes to their table comes from.

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    Client Surveys

    A comprehensive client survey was conducted in our food banks.  Results are being put together now and will be used to guide future programming to ensure clients receive the best service possible!

     

    Logistics Essentials Workforce Development

    Using our warehouse space, we have embarked on a training program for low income individuals to learn skills for the workplace.  Students will learn technical and employments skills as well as receiving certification for Forklift driving, safe food handling and WHMIS.

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    Lawrence Heights

    Lawrence Heights Community Food Space found a new home at 6 Pengarth Court. LHCFS is also our first community food space to move to the new appointment based model.  This allows clients to have an appointment at the food bank to ensure less wait time, giving them better access to services and supports, and a personal touch.

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    Staff Training

    Our frontline staff have had extensive training over the past year in non-violent conflict resolution, working in communities that experience gun violence, trauma informed care, food handlers certificates, developing a community of practice, program development, evaluation and implementation

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    Advocacy Award

    This year we were honoured with the Advocacy Award from the Ontario Association of Food Banks recognizing our efforts towards addressing hunger in the community.

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    Donor Recognition

    This year we celebrated our donors at Taylor’s Landing.  It was a great opportunity to connect with some amazing people that are helping us provide our services in the community.

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     Don’t miss the 2016 wrap up video!

    There are so many other great memories from 2016 and this was only just a few.

    Do you have any highlights of the year? We’d love to know!  Leave your memories in the comment section to share your views!

    Here’s to an even more amazing 2017 helping our community meet their food needs!

     

     





  3. We Had a Great 2015!

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    2015 was a great year at North York Harvest Food Bank and it couldn’t have been done without you!

    Enjoy our 2015 year in review video!

     

    We can’t wait to see what 2016 holds!