COOKING UP CHANGE
FoodShare Toronto has a recipe to help fight food insecurity in the city,
Supporting 40 community gardens across Toronto. Distributing more than 900,000 kilograms of fresh fruit and veggies annually. Working with students to grow more than 2,890 kilograms of vegetables last year.
These are just a few of the ways FoodShare Toronto is working to counter food insecurity across the city, according to marketing and special projects co-ordinator Heidi Pyper.
“I think it’s surprising that so many people in Toronto are food insecure — it’s a hidden secret,” Pyper says noting many people have full-time jobs, but still can’t afford to pay for both rent and food.
“We’re trying to make healthy food more accessible to more people on a more sustainable basis.”
FoodShare has been working to counter food insecurity in Toronto since 1985.
Unlike a traditional food bank, clients pay heavily subsidized prices for fresh fruit and veggies and don’t need to prove they are in need — something Pyper says reduces the stigma of food insecurity.
“We don’t look at simply providing food, we look at providing food in a sustainable way,” she says.
“Food insecurity is anything from not knowing where your next meal is coming from to skipping meals, and people in a city like ours are facing these challenges every day.”
All of the produce is purchased directly from the Ontario Food Terminal and local farmers at fair prices and is brought to the warehouse to be packed by volunteers before being distributed to more than 140 communities across the city.
The non-profit organization operates 24 different programs, all aimed at “providing access to affordable, high-quality food.”
These include supporting community gardens, a Mobile Good Food Market that sells produce from a retrofitted TTC bus in neighbourhoods without easy access to affordable grocery stores, nutrition literacy programs in schools and providing inexpensive farmer-style markets and produce boxes for people facing food insecurity.
“We focus on things like job creation, skill-building capacity and a more system-level approach to food insecurity and hunger,” Pyper says, noting 40 per cent of Foodshare’s revenue is from social enterprise. “We’re working on providing good, healthy food for all.” Where your money goes
82 per cent goes directly to programs and services
14 per cent goes to administrative costs
4 per cent goes to fundraising costs What your money can do
$20 subsidizes the cost of one large Good Food Box for a family
$50 funds a stop for the Mobile Good Food Market
$100 supports community gardens across Toronto
$200 delivers a food literacy workshop for students Upcoming events FoodShare’s major fundraiser Recipe for Change will be held on Thursday evening at St. Lawrence Temporary North Market, 125 The Esplanade. The eighth annual “all you can eat and drink” event features 30 chefs, brewers and vintners, as well as a silent auction. “It’s a really cool vibe and very Toronto . . . it really showcases the diversity of the type of food you can find in the city,” Pyper says. Tickets can be purchased online for $135 and all funds raised go to promoting healthy food and food literacy in schools.