Comments Off on How one young community leader spent her summer nourishing neighbours
It started with a comment.
Isabella heard from a neighbour that they weren’t really eating three meals a day anymore—just lunch. It was all they could afford.
The more Isabella spoke with people in her North York community, the more she heard variations of the same story. For neighbours struggling with the rising cost of living, food is often one of the first things to be cut back.
As a recent high school graduate, Isabella decided she wanted to spend her summer making a difference. She applied for a grant from Youth Fund Canada, which helps young people start a meaningful community initiative.
Isabella was awarded $5,000 from the fund and reached out to North York Harvest Food Bank to partner. This support couldn’t have come at a better time. Summer at the food bank typically means emptier shelves. The support dries up, but the demand is just as strong.
Isabella called her project Kindness Kitchen, an initiative to help make sure people in her community had access to nutritious food.
We connected Isabella with our partner agency, Mount Zion Filipino Seventh-Day Adventist Church. Every month they serve over 300 community members, including many seniors and families.
Stretching every dollar to reach more neighbours
Isabella used her grant to make biweekly food purchases from our social enterprise, FoodReach.
By buying food for Mount Zion, Isabella is helping to fill a nutrition gap at a critical time. But her impact goes even further. By purchasing through FoodReach, she is able to take advantage of FoodReach’s bulk purchasing power, ensuring every dollar spent gets more food for the community at lower prices than a standard retailer. And surplus revenue from FoodReach sales are reinvested right back into North York Harvest Food Bank’s community programs.
“It feels nice to know that I’m making an impact because I wanted to relieve some of the burden on families, especially with food — it’s something everyone needs,” Isabella says.
Every order Isabella makes includes a canned protein, 2-3 fruits, snacks, and other essentials. “The FoodReach team helps me to pick the right foods and tells me what’s on sale, I feel really supported by them and Mount Zion,” Isabella says.
“It’s wonderful, there are some staples that we aren’t always able to give, so sharing that with Isaballa, she’s able to purchase these essential items,” adds Mae, who runs the food space. “Oil is something clients ask for a lot, and it was a nice treat because their eyes would light up when they saw it.”
Idea to impact
Isabella came to North York Harvest Food Bank with an idea.
We helped connect her with a community organization that knew its neighbours, a social enterprise that could make her dollars stretch further, and a network built to move food where it is needed most.
Thanks to incredible neighbours like Isabella, when someone says, “I can only afford one meal a day,” our community has the capacity to respond.
Thank you for helping us build a community where all members are able to meet their food needs.
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