With a Full Heart, I set out to Feed Empty Stomachs. And you can too.

I am deeply humbled to have accepted a role in the Board of Directors at North York Harvest Food Bank.?

A short tale on my journey to get here… Back in 2012 and 2013, we organized the team at Comscore to hop into TTC’s Sheppard Station to collect donations for Second Harvest’s “Lunch Money Day” from subway riders.?It was enough to produce 1,584 meals for people in need – from the efforts of just 5 people.?In subsequent years, our make-your-own omelette breakfast station generated donations of $209, $354, and $436 to Second Harvest in their efforts to nourish people through school programs, seniors’ centres, shelters, food banks, regional food hubs, and many other food programs. ?

And the summer of 2016 we brought our team to the North York Harvest Food Bank facility and sorted 5,551 pounds of food donations in one morning. Full circle.?

In my short time involved with North York Harvest Food Bank, I’ve learned that food insecurity is not only about meeting food needs.?It’s about addressing poverty and creating equitable and unbiased access to quality services. It's about making childcare more affordable, giving food bank users the diverse tastes they remember as a child, and finding solutions to employment and wage issues. ?And it’s about doing this across ALL members in our community. ?Without addressing these challenges, there is no foundation to achieving long-term results around food insecurity.

...food insecurity is not only about meeting food needs.?It’s about addressing poverty and creating equitable and unbiased access to quality services.

In the most recent year, the number of visits to food banks in Toronto reached 1.45 million visits, a +47% increase compared to the previous year.?Alarmingly, new visitors have outnumbered existing visitors for the first time.?In the North York Harvest Food Bank network of member agencies, 1/3rd of food bank users are children and the fastest-growing segment of visitors are seniors 65+ (up 40% pre-pandemic levels).?There is more and more talk about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion today, something that is important in every industry including the Media and Advertising industry that I have the pleasure to work in.?Guess what? Foodbank users are no exception.?Visitors in northern Toronto are dramatically and disproportionately represented in race to the overall population.?Most notably, Black, Middle Eastern, and Southeast Asian race account for 50% of users while it only represents 20% of the Toronto population.?

North York Harvest Food Bank is one of many organizations providing emergency food.?But what makes them unique are the efforts in addressing the root causes that I can’t quite capture in this short piece.?If I’ve kept you reading this far, I encourage you to reach out to me, to your elected officials at all levels, and to your local food banks and shelters, to see how you can help support.?It’s not just about donating non-perishable food items or donating money.?Don’t get me wrong, those are still needed more than ever as a short-term, band-aid solution.?But finding a long-term solution of eliminating poverty is the ultimate goal and everyone can play a small role to achieve big results.?If you can join me to support these causes and drive awareness, I will have accomplished a large part of my remit as Board of Directors.

TLDR; Food insecurity is a challenge that many of us are lucky to not have to experience.?But for a growing and disproportionate segment of the Toronto population, it is something that is faced every single day.?You can help support these challenges in addressing food insecurities by getting involved.?Volunteer, be educated through reading, donate a pack of diapers, start a food drive with your employer, or step into a community food space and thank a kind heart for their front-line work.

Link to North York Harvest Food Bank 2020-2021 Annual Report (2-min read): https://northyorkharvest.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/2020-2021-AR-FINAL-compressed_1.pdf

List of social service agencies, community health centres, and other organizations connecting people in need with food.?https://northyorkharvest.com/programs/agency-network/our-agencies/

Link to Daily Bread Food Bank’s Who’s Hungry? Report (10-min read): https://www.dailybread.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/DB-WhosHungryReport-2021-FINAL.pdf

Link to Feed Ontario’s 2020 Hunger Report: https://feedontario.ca/research/hunger-report-2020/