Impact Report 2018-19 - Feed Ontario

Feed Ontario Impact Report 2018-19

Together in 2018-19 we...

Delivered over

meals to food banks across Ontario

Helped

people across Ontario put food on the table

Supported

organizations fighting hunger in their communities

Welcomed

new donors to the fight against hunger

Invested

in innovative local programs and the network

Sent over

postcards advocating for changes to social assistance

You help feed Ontario

A Message from Our Chair

"To say this past year has been a big one for Feed Ontario and our network of food banks and partners would be an understatement.""

Read the full message

To say this past year has been a big one for Feed Ontario and our network of food banks and partners would be an understatement.

In 2018-19 we began year one of our strategic plan, with a focus on providing more fresh food to clients, increasing our research efforts to support evidence based, long-term solutions to poverty, and creating targeted programming for our food banks so that they can grow the services that they provide to their communities.

And, all of this was in addition to distributing over 4.3 million meals to more than half a million people facing hunger in our province!

You may have also noticed we look a little different. We realized our existing brand no longer reflected the work that we do, and limited our potential for growth to better support our food banks and the communities we serve. That’s why we changed from the Ontario Association of Food Banks to Feed Ontario.

Our new name is a reflection of the transformation of food banking and the collective action of our network of food banks and partners – like you.

This report details just some of the incredible things we have done together in the past year. It is a reflection of the impact all of us – donors, partners, food bankers, volunteers, and staff – have achieved as a united team, together.

When you join with us, you really do help to feed Ontario – thank you!

Michael Maidment
Chair, Feed Ontario Board of Directors

“I am so grateful for the help that I receive from my local food bank. It has helped so much and I am able to get more healthy food options for my daughter. Since I am on the Ontario Disability Support Program, money is extremely tight and the support from my food bank makes a huge difference in making sure my daughter can have more healthy options.”

RURAL KIDS RECIPIENT AT GBF COMMUNITY SERVICES, GRIMSBY

Who we are

A united team against hunger

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.

A bold new look to fit a bold new vision

With the bold purpose to end hunger and poverty in our province in mind, we changed our name this year from the Ontario Association of Food Banks to Feed Ontario.

Our new brand is a reflection of the growth, transformation, and collective action of our network of food banks and partners. It represents the vision that unites us as well as the work we do together to achieve that vision.

It is also a call to action for other caring organizations and individuals to join us as we feed Ontario and help build a healthier province.

A picture of a smiling woman handing a bunch of radishes to another person off camera

FeedON

Our FeedON network provides adults, children, and seniors with nutritious food throughout the year, including: dairy, protein, and produce. Through the support of our partners, we distribute the equivalent of 4.3 million meals annually.

A picture of gloved hands handling lettuce in a garden

Feed Possibility

We Feed Possibility by providing food banks with resources to grow their capacity to distribute fresh food, to collaborate and develop best practices that drive change, and to develop innovative programming for people facing hunger in their communities.

Feed Change

We Feed Change by researching the root-causes of food insecurity, raising awareness of hunger in our province, and advocating on behalf of evidence-based solutions. It is only through our collective action that we will end hunger and poverty in Ontario.

"We grow a variety of fresh and nutritious vegetables and are so grateful to be able to tap into Feed Ontario’s network for the distribution of this healthy food to those that need it the most. The staff is very dedicated and work hard to ensure this food reaches as many people as possible."

GABRIELA PAREJO, EXETER PRODUCE

FeedON

With your crucial support, our FeedON network provides adults, seniors, and children across Ontario with nutritious food throughout the year.

Together we distribute healthy food

With the support of our generous food and financial donors and transportation partners, in 2018-19 Feed Ontario distributed more than 5 million pounds of food, serving 502,000 Ontarians facing hunger. That equates to 4.3 million meals!

This year we continued to strengthen our commitment to fresh, nutritious food, by sourcing quality items that support a balanced diet for people visiting food banks. Almost 68% of the food we distributed was fresh or frozen, a growth of 5% over the previous year. This included meat, eggs, dairy, and fruit and vegetables.

Fresh Food

2018-19
0%
2017-18
0%
2016-17
0%

Food distributed by Category

A colorful donut chart with five segments in dark blue, red, green, purple, orange, and yellow, representing different data proportions.

Pie chart legend with categories: Protein (14%), Produce (10%), Pantry (27%), Prepared (7%), Dairy (41%), and Household Items (2%).

Fresh Food Programs that support local farmers

servings of chicken

MADE POSSIBLE BY

and Maple Lodge Farms

LEARN MORE

servings of milk

MADE POSSIBLE BY

LEARN MORE

servings of eggs

MADE POSSIBLE BY

Burnbrae Farms and Gray Ridge Eggs

servings of pork

servings of beef

servings of turkey

Moving food is a team effort

Moving food across the province is not an easy feat. However, with the collective effort of a network of partners, volunteers, and organizations we are able to move 5 million pounds of nutritious food to all corners of the province throughout the year.

DONATE

Food (including much-needed milk, eggs, meat, and produce) is donated to Feed Ontario by one of our many partners.

COORDINATE

Food offers are sent to Feed Ontario food banks via our Smarter Needs Allocation Program (SNAP). Food banks request what is needed for their community.

TRANSPORT

With the help of Feed Ontario’s transportation partners, donated food is transported to food banks in every corner of the province.

RECEIVE

Feed Ontario food banks in 130 communities across Ontario receive the donated food to share through their food banks, meal programs, and partner organizations.

Dedicated staff and volunteers at over 1,200 hunger-relief organizations share the donated food with 502,000 people facing hunger, who make over 2.9 million visits annually.

“Making a difference in just one person’s life is what matters. The tornado in Ottawa last year impacted many lives, and we did what we could to help those affected. We are a family run company, with family values. In the community we grew up in, when someone was faced with a difficult situation we all banded together, we helped them. This is why we partner with Feed Ontario, and why we believe assisting food banks during emergency situations is important.”

ALBERT RENAUD, MINIMAX

Feed Possibility: Providing More Community Support

With your incredible support, we help food banks feed possibility by investing in innovative programming for people facing hunger in their communities.

Together we prevent food waste

Farm to Food

In 2018-19 Feed Ontario received a three-year grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation to launch a brand new food transformation program, Farm to Food. In partnership with our member food bank in Windsor, the Unemployed Help Centre, and Food Banks Canada, Farm to Food will rescue excess vegetables from farms and turn them into nutritious meals for people facing hunger. This year we laid the groundwork for the official program launch in 2019-20.

Secured 3 partnerships with large farms and food producers to rescue healthy food that would otherwise go to waste
Installed 1 new walk-in freezer to safely store food during the program
Projected 3,750 lbs of produce a week that will be transformed from waste to nutritious meals upon program launch

Bilingual Ontario Trillium Foundation logo

One More Bite

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 2018-19, this program was piloted in five communities across the province, with more food banks scheduled to participate in the upcoming year!

5 food banks rescued food
17 Metro stores donated to food banks
290,211 pounds of food rescue

Together we invest in communities

Rural Kids Program

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.

In 2018-19:

23 food banks participated
227,000 meals and snacks served
10,434 kids in rural communities served

Bayer Fund logo

Capacity Building Program

The Capacity Building Program provides food banks in Ontario with funding to grow their capacity to accept, store, and distribute fresh food to adults and children living with hunger.

In 2018-19:

8 food banks participated
15 pieces of equipment purchased
17,735 clients benefited

Whole Foods Markey logo

Feeding Fresh! Sysco Gardening Program

The Feeding Fresh! Sysco Community Garden Program provides food banks across the province with funding for the creation, growth and development of their community gardens to help develop skills, community, and access to fresh food.

In 2018-19:

14 food banks participated
18 community gardens were supported
14,223 families and households benefited

Sysco logo

Together we enhance local services

People walk through a flooded street with water up to their knees. A truck and other individuals are visible in the background.

Emergency Preparedness

In the event of a disaster, such as flooding or forest fires, Feed Ontario and its member food banks are at the forefront of the community response. That’s why, this year, we worked in collaboration with our members to develop a province-wide Emergency Preparedness and Risk Plan (EPRP) to ensure that Feed Ontario and our network of food banks are ready to effectively serve their communities in times of emergency.

9 food banks visited as part of the EPRP’s development
46 food banks received in-person training on the EPRP
76 people received training in emergency preparedness

Enterprise Fill Your Tank logo

A person wearing a blue checkered shirt is gripping the steering wheel of a vehicle with sunlight streaming through the window.

Capacity Building

One of the key priorities in our strategic plan is to grow the Ontario food bank network’s capacity to serve their communities.

This year, we surveyed the network’s infrastructure and capacity for distributing food and serving clients. With this information, we will be able to determine a baseline for growth, set achievable targets, and strategically invest in the development of capacity building programs and opportunities for food banks.

Enterprise Fill Your Tank logo

Two children smiling and holding up fruits, surrounded by various fruits and vegetables on a kitchen counter.

Standards of Care

Food banks work hard to provide expert care and service to everyone who walks through their doors. However, in a province as large as Ontario, the types of programs and processes often differ significantly between communities.

In an effort to develop best in class service, while equally recognizing the unique needs of Ontario’s diverse cities and towns, we created a new, member-led committee to develop a ‘Standards of Care’ guide for our network.

This guide will help provide food banks with up to date best practices on administration, operations, service, and community engagement, and act as a tool for food banks to self-identify areas in which they would like to grow or progress beyond the existing standards required to be a Feed Ontario member.

“We are so blessed to have Feed Ontario – I’m blown away at the amazing support they give us. Our community in Mountain is behind us, but there is only so much they can do because we’re a small, rural community. We benefit from all of what Feed Ontario does and they are so supportive of us and our work. It also makes a huge difference in our ability to give out healthy food options to the people we serve."

KIM MERKLEY, HOUSE OF LAZARUS FOOD BANK, MOUNTAIN

Feed Change

With your amazing support, we help feed change through research and public education, and by advocating on behalf of evidence-based solutions to hunger and poverty.

Four smiling people wearing orange aprons stand together in a room with a crate of apples in the background.

HUNGER ACTION MONTH

In partnership with Food Banks Canada, Hunger Action Month moved from a provincial to a National campaign this year! Inclusive of local and provincial events, Hunger Action Month encourages people to work towards a future without hunger through four key actions:

Educate: Created customizable tools for food banks to share statistics on hunger and poverty in their communities, and promoted Food Banks Canada’s Impossible Choices
Advocate: Sent 7,165 postcards to MPPs calling for more affordable housing, and hosted a breakfast at Queen’s Park, attended by 27 MPPs and 13 food banks
Volunteer: Hosted, in partnership with local food banks, 17 volunteer events
Donate: Raised $69,000 to help end hunger in Ontario

How We're Feeding the Future

In the last year, with your continued support, Feed Ontario laid the foundation for ongoing growth and investment in the services Ontario’s food bank network provides to our province’s most vulnerable people. As we begin year two of our strategic plan (2019-20), we will continue to build on this foundation by investing the generous support you entrust us with into strategic, long-term solutions to food insecurity.

A hand holding freshly picked red radishes with large green leaves in a sunny vegetable garden with raised beds and greenery in the background.

Feeding More Fresh

With the support of partners like you, over the next year our goal is to continue increasing the availability of fresh and frozen food that Feed Ontario distributes to food banks. With a particular focus on produce and protein, we want to ensure that all Ontarians have access to a healthy, balanced diet so that they can flourish.

Two workers in an aisle of a large warehouse, one in a high-visibility vest, discussing something while surrounded by shelves stocked with various packages.

Growing Food Bank Capacity

An increase in fresh and frozen food also requires an increase in our network’s capacity to accept, store, and distribute fresh food. Based on the results of the Capacity Evaluation conducted this year, Feed Ontario will develop a Capacity Strategy to continue increasing capacity across the network, improving our own ability to distribute fresh food, and that of our member food banks.

A young child with light brown hair is drinking milk from a glass while wearing a yellow shirt.

Cost of Poverty

Building on our increased research efforts to develop long-term solutions to hunger, Feed Ontario will release a Cost of Poverty report exploring the financial strain that poverty, and its side effects like hunger, put on the province. The report will also include recommendations for change to help improve outcomes for low-income Ontarians and help create a more prosperous province for all.

"On behalf of all our employees, I am proud to express FCC’s support of Feed Ontario. At FCC, our purpose is to serve the industry that feeds the world. We are committed to reducing hunger and giving back to the communities in which we live and work. Feed Ontario is doing both by sourcing and distributing food to Ontario food banks, as well as by assisting in the growth and development of food programs province-wide. Keep up the great work!"

MICHAEL HOFFORT, PRESIDENT AND CEO, FARM CREDIT CANADA

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!