A year of resilience and united strength
A message from our Executive Director
"The story of Ontario's food banks and partners in 2020-21 is a story of resiliency and united strength. We have faced a number of hurdles in the last year, but together, we stand stronger, firm in our conviction that we can end hunger and poverty in Ontario"
Who we are
From securing fresh and healthy food sources, to driving change through policy research and innovative programming, Feed Ontario unites food banks, industry partners, and local communities in our work to end hunger and poverty.
2020-21 in numbers
pounds of food delivered to food banks across Ontario
adults, seniors, and children accessed a food bank in Ontario
visits to a food bank in Ontario
COVID-19 Emergency Food Boxes distributed
hunger-relief organizations working together
invested in innovative local programs and the food bank network
FeedON: Growing food distribution amidst a pandemic
With your increased support, our FeedON network has provided adults, seniors, and children across Ontario with tens of millions of nutritious meals this year.
29 million pounds of nutritious food (that’s as heavy as the Brooklyn Bridge!)
With the increased support of our generous food and financial donors and transportation partners, in 2020-21 Feed Ontario distributed more than 9 million pounds of food through our regular food programming, and an additional 20 million pounds through new COVID-19 response programs. Altogether, we distributed over 29 million pounds of food in 2020-21. That equates to over 24 million meals – an increase of nearly 4 million meals in our regular food programs and 20 million more meals than in 2019-20 across all programs.
This year we continued our commitment to fresh, nutritious food by sourcing quality items that support a balanced diet for people accessing food banks. More than half of the food we distributed through our regular programs was fresh or frozen. This included meat, eggs, dairy, fruit, and vegetables!
Fresh food distributed
Food Distributed by Category
Putting food distribution growth in perspective
Feed Ontario's COVID-19 emergency food programs
Fresh food programs that support local farmers
servings of poultry
Litres of milk
servings of beef
servings of pork
servings of eggs
servings of turkey
Allocating food to communities in a SNAP
To facilitate the distribution of food donations quickly and equitably across the province, Feed Ontario uses a custom-built, cloud-based system, Smarter Needs Allocation Program (SNAP). Since SNAP’s launch in 2011, our network's demand has grown and technology has updated, but the system has not and has struggled to keep up.
In 2020-21, Feed Ontario was able to invest in much needed improvements to the SNAP system, significantly increasing the system’s functionality and efficiency. These updates increase response time during the food allocation process so that we can move product faster and ensure food gets to where it’s needed most before spoilage. It also makes it easier for food banks to manage food offers from Feed Ontario so they can spend more time serving clients.
Feed Possibility: Standing behind communities
Your generous support helps feed possibility by investing in food bank training and knowledge sharing and innovative programming for people facing hunger in our communities.
Food transformation programs
Farm to Food
A unique food transformation program, Farm to Food rescues excess vegetables from farms and turns them into nutritious meals for people facing hunger. Run in Windsor, ON, in partnership with our local food bank, UHC- Hub of Opportunities, and Food Banks Canada, the program serves hunger-relief agencies throughout Ontario. In 2020-21 we continued to work with farms and food producers on this ground-breaking program.
- 30 Farming and Food Producer Partnerships
- 265,202lbs of food rescued and transformed
- 34 food banks received healthy soup
- 1,156,199 healthy meals distributed across Ontario
One More Bite
In partnership with Metro Ontario, One More Bite provides food banks in Ontario with the opportunity to receive rescued fresh food from their local Metro-banner grocery stores to distribute to adults and children living with hunger in their communities. In 2020-21, even more stores and food banks joined the program:
- 28 food banks rescued food
- 125 stores donated to food banks
- 2,254,167 lbs. of food rescued
Community programs
Feeding Possibility!
The Feeding Possibility! Grant was created to respond to the needs of food banks to help improve the overall capacity and resiliency of the Feed Ontario network. Projects are tied to Feed Ontario’s Standards of Care Framework, with the aim of helping food banks provide best-in-class service to their communities.
- 28 food banks applied
- 23 projects were funded
- $572,470 invested in food bank capacity and resiliency
Highlighted projects:
- Creation and implementation of a home delivery program for community members who are unable to access the regular food bank services
- Building of an online portal with a set of custom education modules to make training available and more accessible to volunteers and hunger-relief agencies
Rural Kids
The Rural Kids Program provides rural food banks in Ontario with funding to support the children they serve with community-specific programs, such as breakfast clubs, snack packs, or kids cooking classes. The 2020-21 Rural Kids Program helped ensure that children facing hunger still had access to nutritious food, despite increased barriers to receiving food support due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- 7 food banks participated
- 79,141 meals and snacks provided
- 4,253 kids in rural communities served
Efficiency Improvement
To support the growth in demand for emergency food support, in 2020-21 Feed Ontario introduced a one-time grant to help food banks with significant warehousing and distribution invest in developing their inventory management. This investment will help ensure that food can be more efficiently accounted for and distributed to agencies and families facing hunger for years to come.
- 4 food banks applied
- 3 projects funded
- $194,000 invested to improve efficiency
Virtual conference: building resiliency
Feed Ontario quickly re-tooled the planned June 2020 in-person conference, and launched our first-ever virtual conference, "Building Resiliency," in August 2020. Sessions were designed to help grow food banks' resiliency to unforeseen challenges and spark ideas on how to build a better world.
Themes of the conference included:
Adapting operations: an opportunity to reflect on the rapid operational changes food banks implemented during the spring, share best practices with peers, and brainstorm how to adapt to emerging challenges.
Mental health & wellness: Sessions focused on managing burnout, and sharing challenges and advice to address staff, volunteer, and client mental health during the pandemic.
Sparking change: Food banks have a responsibility to both advocate for a world that doesn't need food banks, as well as ensuring they are not contributing to injustice within their own spheres of influence. Sessions focused on making your food bank voices heard and how racial injustice intersects with poverty and food insecurity.
Growing resources and support for food banks in a pandemic
Throughout the last year, the food bank sector has had to rapidly adapt in response to changing restrictions and health guidelines, as well as changes in local food and funding sources. In response, Feed Ontario launched two online training series for member food banks, conducted regular wellness checks with each food bank, helped food banks connect with their local municipal services manager to access government support, and developed hundreds of COVID-19 response resources, including toolkits, guidelines, and best practices on topics from distanced service delivery options, to COVID-19 response plans, and more.
Feed Change: Working together on evidence-based solutions
With your increased supports, we feed change through research and public education, and advocating on behalf of evidence-based solutions to hunger and poverty.
Hunger Report
Feed Ontario’s annual 2020 Hunger Report found that, while COVID-19 has undeniably impacted our province, food bank use in Ontario was already on the rise even prior to the pandemic. This upward trend was exacerbated by the economic impacts of the pandemic in many communities. Between March and June 2020, food banks saw a surge in usage as hundreds of thousands of people were without the means to acquire sufficient income for basic needs like rent, hydro, transportation, and food.
Findings of the report include:
- 26% increase in the number of people and families who accessed a food bank for the first time during the first three months of the pandemic
- 44% increase in the proportion of employed adults accessing a food bank over 4 years
- 7.3% year over year increase in the number of visits to a food bank in 2019, prior to the pandemic starting
Hunger Action Month
In partnership with Food Banks Canada and local food banks, Hunger Action Month is a Feed Ontario initiative that takes place every September and encourages people to take action against hunger in their communities. Embracing the challenges of the pandemic, communities mobilized in new ways leading to one of the most successful campaigns to date.
Hunger Action Month encourages participants to take action in four key ways:
Educate: Shared Feed Ontario’s Hunger Map to explore statistics on hunger and poverty in communities by electoral riding.
Advocate: Held virtual constituent meetings with Member’s of Provincial Parliament and ran a public campaign sending emails to MPP’s to advocate for rent relief.
Volunteer: Highlighted ways to volunteer and get involved with local food banks during the pandemic
Donate: Raised $140,000 to help end hunger in Ontario
Working with government on solutions to end hunger
Throughout the pandemic, Feed Ontario continued to engage with the provincial government and local communities to ensure our province’s most vulnerable had the support they needed during these challenging times. In 2020-21 we:
- Met with leaders from all provincial parties to talk about COVID-19 responses
- Held a virtual town hall with the Ontario Minister of Children, Community and Social Services
- Ran three MPP email campaigns calling for rent relief and an eviction moratorium during the Stay-at-Home order
- Presented to the Ontario Minister of Finance as part of budget consultations
- Submitted recommendations for the provincial budget and poverty reduction strategy
Feeding the future: Hunger doesn't end with a pandemic
By working together, our vision to end hunger and poverty in Ontario is possible
Operation community regeneration
Over the next year, we will continue to focus on ensuring Ontario’s food banks have the resources they need to help our province recover from the pandemic and thrive. Join us for Operation Community Regeneration! With the support of partners like you, together we will continue to:
FeedON: Replenish
In partnership with the food industry, we will replenish food bank supplies by growing Feed Ontario’s existing fresh food donation programs; and investing in our new Full Shelves Program to provide food banks with more food staples and PPE. These programs leverage our extensive distribution network to ensure food bank shelves in every corner of the province remain full.
Feed Possibility: Renew
Building on food banks’ agility, we will continue to invest in resources to help renew communities and food banks, including developing best practices in partnership with Public Health, emergency response plans, training courses, tools for physically distant food delivery, resources to transition to virtual operations where possible, mental health supports, and guidelines as we reopen.
Feed Change: Strengthen resilience
By working in partnership with government and communities, we will strengthen our collective resilience through data-driven, evidence-based solutions and policies that provide lasting support to our province’s most vulnerable and ensure that communities are prepared for the future.
A commitment to Northern Ontario
In the coming year, we will begin a five-year Northern food strategy to increase equitability in access to nutritious food in Northern Ontario and help address the unique challenges faced in remote, fly-in, and Indigenous communities. Through the strategy, Feed Ontario will work in partnership with food banks, other non-profit groups, and Indigenous leaders and communities to improve our infrastructure and distribution capacity in Northern Ontario, reduce barriers to our services, and increase nutritious food support.
Working together, each dollar goes further
Thank you to all of the incredible people and organizations who give their time, products, services, and financial support to Feed Ontario. You make feeding Ontario possible!
Revenue
Expenses
Our partners in fighting hunger
Fresh Food Partners
Thank you to our Fresh Food Partners for helping us Feed Ontario!
Food & Consumer Product Partners
Thank you to our Food and Consumer Partners for helping us Feed Ontario!
Barilla Link opens a new window
Berryhill Farm Link opens a new window
Bulk Carriers PEI Link opens a new window
Burnbrae Farms Link opens a new window
Cardinal Meats Link opens a new window
Clover Leaf Link opens a new window
Fleischmanns Link opens a new window
Great Northern Seedlings Link opens a new window
Greenleaf Link opens a new window
Henkel Corporation Link opens a new window
Idahoan Foods Link opens a new window
Kellogg's Link opens a new window
LCP Farms Link opens a new window
Loblaws Link opens a new window
Mill Creek Farms Link opens a new window
Nature's Path Link opens a new window
Naturipe Link opens a new window
Nestle Link opens a new window
P&G Link opens a new window
P&H Foods (Butterball) Link opens a new window
Parmalat Link opens a new window
Post Link opens a new window
President's Choice Link opens a new window
Skjodt-Barrett Link opens a new window
Sunmaid Link opens a new window
TC Foods Link opens a new window
Treehouse Foods Link opens a new window
Trenton Cold Storage Link opens a new window
Weston Bakeries
Whitecrest Mushrooms Link opens a new window
Transportation & Logistics Partners
Thank you to our transportation partners for helping us Feed Ontario!
Arnold Brothers
Arnone Transport Ltd.
Bison Transport
G. Zavitz Ltd.
Grehan Truckline
Manitoulin Transport
Martin-Roy Transport
McKevitt Transport Ltd.
The Mackie Group
Financial Partners
Thank you to our financial partners for helping us Feed Ontario!
900 Bowling Proshop
A Plus Creative
ADR Chambers Inc.
Agilec
Air Canada Recreation Association
All Saints Anglican Church GTA
AMAPCEO Link opens a new window
Arterra Wines Canada
Ashley Lawrence-Leger Medicine Professional Corporation
Association of Professional Student Services Personnel APSSP
Axiom Real-Time Metrics
AyA Kitchens and Baths
Balou Investments Inc.
Beaches Media Services
Bella & Coop
BGC ENGINEERING INC.
BLT401 Inc.
Boehringer Ingelheim Canada
Brian South West Ontario Veterinary Services
Brokerlink Inc.
Brookfield Properties
Cachet Estate Homes
Camso Distribution Canada Inc
Canadian Star Marketing
Cargill Limited
Charles Taylor Adjusting
CN Link opens a new window
Coast Capital Savings Link opens a new window
Colliers International
Commercial Leasing Practice, WeirFoulds LLP
Compugen Inc./RHC2
Connor, Clark & Lunn Foundation
Credit Suisse
Daughters of the American Revolution
DDB Canada
Desjardins Financial
Dr. Andrew W. Morgan Medicine Professional Corp
Dr. Yin Hui Medicine Professional Corporation
DWS Data Wiring Solutions Inc
Dynamic Funds Link opens a new window
EDPRO Energy Group Inc. Link opens a new window
Educators Financial Group Inc. Link opens a new window
Enercare
Enterprise Fleet Management Canada Inc.
Epimatic Corporation
Fari Hara Inc
Farm Credit Canada (headoffice)
Fiera Properties ITF / C/O Colliers International
FirstOnSite Restoration
Flat Rock Cellars Ltd.
Fowler Construction Company Ltd Link opens a new window
Greenridge Financial Group
GTDC Inc
HRPA
HTS Engineering Ltd.
Hydro Extrusion Canada
Hyunjin Choi Consulting Ltd.
Industrial Alliance
Industrial Contractors Association Of Canada
Innergex Renewable Energy Inc.
Intact Group Insurance Link opens a new window
Ivanhoé Cambridge Inc
Lake of Bays Brewing
Langdon Hall Country House Hotel & Spa
Latitude Link opens a new window
Learning Curves Foundation and our Instructor
Link Charity Canada
LMDG Building Code Consultants Ltd. Link opens a new window
Make Space Inc.
Manulife Life Insurance Link opens a new window
Maple Leaf Centre for Action on Food Security
McMaster University
Mechanical Contractors Association Of Toronto
Minor Brothers Farm Supply Limited Link opens a new window
MLSE Foundation
Moody's Tax Law LLP Link opens a new window
MOSEA
Municipal Property Assessment Corporation SPM Department
Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC)
MyClosing
National Money Mart
Newman's Own Foundation
NOBLE Corporation
NorFalco
Ontario Association of Poultry Veterinarians
Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association Link opens a new window
Ontario Nurses Association Link opens a new window
Ontario Provincial Police Association
Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation
Ontario State Council - The Knights of Columbus Link opens a new window
Ontario Teachers' Federation
Ontario Traffic Council Link opens a new window
Ontario Volleyball Association
Open. A Creative Company Link opens a new window
OPTIS Consulting
OTIP Community Fund
Parrish and Heimbecker
Philip Fox Fund
Philip Smith Foundation
Pioneer Hi-Bred Limited
Podium Development Corp.
Public Service Alliance of Canada - Ontario Region
Purple Park Inc.
R & M Lang Foundation
Radiance Mortgage Brokerage Inc.
Ralph & Maureen Phillips Family Foundation
RAWspace
RBC
RBC Foundation Link opens a new window
Reinhart Foods Limited
Remembering Otto and Marie Pick Charitable Foundation
Riverdale Neora
Rotary Club of Toronto Eglinton Charitable Foundation
Ryan Knight Professional Corporation
Sager Food Products
Sedgwick Canada Inc.
SGI Canada
Sir William Gage Middle School
Slocombeco Holdings Inc.
Sollio Agriculture Link opens a new window
Sollio Agriculture
Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits
Spirit of York
SS-AUSM Toronto
Stantic Consulting Ltd.
Sun Life Windsor Ontario
Supply Chain Management Association ON
TD Private Giving Fund
The Azrieli Foundation
The Bill and Jean Somerville Foundation
The Cheesecake Factory Link opens a new window
The Commonwell
The Crump Group Inc.
The Elpis Foundation
The Green Fischer Family Trust
The Harweg Foundation
The John & Ellie Voortman Charitable Foundation
The Masonic Foundation of Ontario
The Noble Hearts Foundation
The Norman and Margaret Jewison Charitable Foundation
The Ontario Trillium Foundation
Thornbury Craft Cider
Toronto Sanskriti Sangstha
Tonica Beverages Ltd.
Topper's Franchising Company Inc.
Toronto Sanskriti Sangstha
Toronto Steel Buyers & Associates
Toyota Industries Commercial Finance Canada, Inc.
Travel Industry Council of Ontario
Trillium Mutual Insurance Company
Radiance Mortgage Brokerage Inc.
Turkish Society of Canada
Union of Safety and Justice Employees
United Way Link opens a new window
Village Media Inc.
Viper Info- Tech Solutions, Inc. Link opens a new window
VTX Consulting Services Inc.
Waterloo-Wellington Sheet Metal Contractors Association
Wawanesa Assurance Link opens a new window
Whole Foods Market Services Inc.
Sponsors
Thank you to our 2022 Conference and Hunger Action Month Sponsors
Ontario Federation of Agriculture
Egg Farmers of Ontario
Dairy Farmers of Ontario
Linamar
Network of hunger fighters
Staff
Our team of talented individuals is committed to supporting Ontario’s food banks and advocating for solutions to hunger and poverty.
Board of Directors
Our Board of Directors is comprised of food bank leaders and industry professionals who shape Feed Ontario’s strategic direction.
Meghan Nicholls
Chair
CEO
Food Banks Mississauga
Wayne VanderWees
Vice-Chair
Founder
Freight Managers Inc.
Steve Bhatti
Treasurer
Senior Director, RESL Products and Organization
CIBC
Christine Clark Lafleur
Corporate Secretary
Executive Director
Port Cares
Ryan Noble
Past Chair
Executive Director
North York Harvest
Robin Bailey
Board Member
Executive Director
Burlington Food Bank
Audrie Bouwmeester
Board Member
Manager, School Programs
Dairy Farmers of Ontario
Maureen A. Ford
Board Member
Manager and strategic planning professional
Heather Hayes
Board Member
Director
Orangeville Food Bank
Neil Hetherington
Board Member
Chief Executive Officer
Daily Bread Food Bank
Dan Irwin
Board Member
Executive Director
Partners in Mission Food Bank
Rim Khazall
Board Member
Senior Policy Analyst and Team Lead
Canada Border Service Agency
Sean McFarling
Board Member
General Counsel
LIUNA
Natalie Spooner-Bourgogne
Board Member
Director, Programs and Planning
Ottawa Food Bank