Building a vegetarian food bank

Tip for running a food bank: don’t show up at the Ontario Food Terminal 15 minutes before it closes on a Friday — and closes for the entire weekend.

That’s what Matt Noble did the day before the launch of the Toronto Vegetarian Food Bank. “My whole plan revolved around going back on Saturday morning and picking up the food. I froze for a second.”

Asales rep took care of him and even stored his food for the night. Fortunately, that was the only glitch in the new food bank he’s running out of the Yonge Street Mission’s Gerrard and Parliament Sts. location. And it was a totally excusable mistake for a freelance custom millworker, who has put in countless hours as a volunteer so that vegetarians (like himself) can eat well, even if they’re having trouble paying for groceries.

Originally, Noble wanted to work with the Ontario Vegetarian Food Bank, which ran two pop-up food banks in Scarborough and North York. He was in talks with founder Malan Joseph about spearheading a downtown location. Noble’s grandmother used to volunteer at the Yonge Street Mission, and got him in contact with staff there.

However, Joseph died in 2013 and the food banks eventually closed down. Once Noble knew for sure Joseph’s family would not be able to revive them, he got to work on his project, assembling a group of about 10 volunteers and starting various fundraising projects (including an Indiegogo campaign).

With $7,500 in hand, he bought food for the Jan. 31 opening. His sister made soup (way too much; everyone went home with large containers of it) and the bank served about 36 people in need from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. that Saturday.

Noble’s food bank offers fresh produce, legumes, tofu, cereals, bread and pasta. His goal is to avoid canned food as much as possible and instead offer wholesome ingredients that combine well together.

The bank plans to open once a month; the next will run on Feb. 28. He’s impressed things went so well the first time, though he’d like to make a few changes. “We would like kale this time. We wanted it last time, but they were out.”