Bringing food to people in need across Canada’s vast geography is a daunting challenge but through a partnership with Uber Freight as our in-kind logistics partner, Second Harvest is celebrating a major milestone: we have delivered over 5.5 million pounds of surplus food and critical resources, sending 180 shipments to more than 20 communities across four provinces since April 2020.
A race against time
“Transporting perishable food is a race against time and adding to the urgency is the fact that food donations can happen any time, anywhere. We always want to be ready to get that healthy food to people who need it, particularly in more remote communities,” said Lori Nikkel, Second Harvest’s CEO. “We needed a logistics solution flexible enough to handle those variables and working with Uber Freight has made moving millions of pounds of food a lot easier.”
The partnership between Second Harvest and Uber Freight started in 2020, when Uber Freight chose Second Harvest as its designated charitable partner for Canada. Recently, our Food Procurement team began using Uber Freight’s new Shipper Platform, which launched in Canada this May, to coordinate food deliveries to Sault Ste. Marie and St. Thomas, ON.
The Shipper Platform enables shippers like Second Harvest to create and tender loads with just a few clicks, get instant price quotes generated in real time from Uber Freight’s network of carriers, and have real-time freight tracking with automatic notifications.
“The Shipper Platform has been an excellent supplement to our logistics. It’s very straightforward and easy to use,” said Winston Rosser, Director of Food Procurement at Second Harvest. “We’ve also benefited from Uber Freight’s people, as well as the platform. Seeing up close how a game-changing transportation broker operates has given us valuable insights as Second Harvest has scaled nationally.”
Healthy meals in just a few clicks
Using the Shipper Platform, Second Harvest shipped over 16,500 pounds of food, including more than 7,000 pounds of frozen chicken, from Toronto and delivered them to United Way Sault Ste. Marie & Algoma District. United Way SSM will distribute the food to its partner agencies through the Harvest Algoma food hub.
“Our thanks to Second Harvest and Uber Freight for making this delivery possible,” said Gary Vipond of United Way Sault Ste. Marie & Algoma District. “Through their coordinated efforts we will be able to provide food hampers and some relief to over 1,500 people who have been hit hard by the economic toll of the pandemic.”
Second Harvest also used Uber Freight’s Shipper Platform to deliver 43,000 pounds of food to Harvest Hands in St. Thomas, ON, which supports 70 agencies and 1,625 people.
“At Uber Freight, our mission is to simplify the movement of goods that help communities thrive,” said Raman Paulovich, General Manager, Uber Freight Canada. “We are proud that our Shipper Platform is empowering these important community agencies to build capacity, do their work more effectively and reach more people.”
“We are so grateful to Second Harvest and their food donor partners for helping to fill up cupboards and plates in our community with this amazing quantity and variety of food,” said Jim Collins of Harvest Hands. “And thanks to Uber Freight for going the extra mile!”
