We asked the generous people of Toronto to deliver — and you did!
Generous Loblaws shoppers and our Second Harvest community of givers like you warmed up the cold, dark month of December by donating 5,152 turkeys, 436 hams and 138 plant-based alternatives to our Squash Hunger food drive.
These healthy proteins were delivered to 110 of our frontline agency partners who used them to fill holiday food hampers or transformed them into hot, nourishing meals for their communities.
While the holiday season brings joy to many, it can be an especially difficult time for people living on low incomes and struggling with food insecurity. Second Harvest’s recent research estimates that more than 6 million Canadians access food from community organizations and non-profits. As the need grows, these non-profits are trying hard to fill the gaps. Driven by the impact of COVID, schools, faith-based groups and student programs are increasingly stepping up to provide food to vulnerable Canadians, joining traditional emergency hunger relief organizations like food banks and shelters.
PHOTO: Squash Hunger donors like you helped provide turkeys that will be part of holiday meals for 75 families supported by St. John Mission in Toronto.
Miranda Kamal from our partner agency MJKO, a youth sports and leadership program, sees this firsthand. MJKO’s post-class snack program has transformed into an Emergency Food program for 133 families in the South Parkdale neighbourhood, providing over $300,000 of healthy produce, dairy and proteins.
“South Parkdale has been hit hard by the pandemic and things are continuing to get worse as we approach 2022, with the cost of food rising, kids struggling to integrate back into the school system, and families struggling to pay their rent,” she says. “We are so grateful to Second Harvest for the help. Without our 2,000 lbs of food support each week from Second Harvest, kids and seniors would be going to sleep hungry.”
Miranda Kamal
Second Harvest gratefully acknowledges the long-time, loyal support of Loblaw Companies Ltd. who has been a partner of our holiday food drive for nearly two decades. They have generously welcomed our countless teams of hard-working volunteers into their stores to collect donations of turkeys and other healthy proteins that help our non-profit partners Squash Hunger.
In addition to our Presenting Sponsor, Loblaw Companies Limited, Second Harvest would also like to acknowledge our generous partners: The Slaight Family, The Marner Assist Foundation, and Maple Lodge Farms whose donations helped support our Squash Hunger campaign.
“We are grateful to each donor who supports Second Harvest and in turn MJKO,” said Miranda. “Thank you for making a difference at the local level this holiday season!”
TOP PHOTO: MJKO youth volunteers helping to deliver turkeys provided by generous donors to Second Harvest’s Squash Hunger campaign.
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!”
There’s so much to be said about re-discovering your own backyard.
For many of us, life is busy and opportunities to stop and smell the roses (or rosé) and find new adventures may be few and far between. But when that opportunity knocks, and you can answer, do it!
The Great Taste of Ontario has provided this opportunity on a silver platter with hundreds of unique, food focused itineraries to inspire and help you plan your trips to explore this massive, beautiful and diverse province.
December is the last month … start your trip planning!
During the winter holidays, Ontario shines! It’s the perfect time to explore and enjoy festive offerings, holiday-themed foods and warm (or cold!) bevvies from the many unique communities around the province.
Start with the easily downloadable passports (there are more than 80 to choose from) to help guide your adventures or provide inspiration. Then plan your trip – keep it close to home or travel to far-off corners. Each time you visit the participating growers, wineries, craft brewers, farm shops, restaurants or other delicious, designated stops, you’ll increase your chance to redeem a prize. Most importantly, you’ll be supporting communities across Ontario while supporting Second Harvest!
Ontario is such a great wonder. During the holidays, in particular, festive offerings, holiday-themed foods and warm (or cold!) bevies certainly sweeten the pot.
Enjoy your adventure!
Your field guide to the best food and drink in Ontario
Be Inspired: Visit ontarioculinary.com and discover each region.
Download Passport: when you find a region that excites you download their unique and curated passport for everything to see and do. Many destination passports even feature the top 15 “must-see stops”!
Check in: each time you “check in” to a passport destination you’ll earn points that can be redeemed for products or donated to Second Harvest!
Share on social: Use the #GreatTasteofOntario hashtag to share your experience with other foodies in Ontario!
Out of every good idea comes another. Particularly when it comes to creativity with a purpose, like Donate the Difference, a campaign that Second Harvest initiated this summer that challenged Canadians to find creative ways to reduce their food budget by 10 percent and donate the difference to help Second Harvest provide nourishing rescued food to communities in need.
The stories of creative hacks for leftovers, helpful hints, and food preservation ideas were not only empowering and educational but also a lot of fun.
Throughout the summer, Second Harvest shared a variety of tips, recipes and suggestions for reducing food waste and saving money, like freezing and eating leftovers, turning overripe fruit into gelato, buying only what’s needed and using smarter storage.
Along with the generous support of Diplomático Rum and Whole Foods Market, we brought this conversation to the forefront and offered webinars to share ideas to start the process towards lasting change. If you missed the mini-series on food preservation (or would like a refresher), see the video below.
The Donate the Difference campaign was so successful that it has now become a permanent fixture in our Fundraising Ideas Menu. Stay tuned for updates in the future.
Did you know: Canadian households toss 2.3 million tonnes of perfectly good food every year, costing us an average of $1,766 a year!
Diplomático ‘zero-waste’ Cocktail recipe
Diplomático Rum served up a few mixology masterpieces that use strays from your fridge and pantry to make refreshing (and zero-waste) cocktails. See below for an exclusive recipe – and tasty beverage! – created during our Donate the Difference campaign.
Bolívar Cocktail
This daiquiri-style cocktail uses Oleo Saccharum, which is a bartender trick using older citrus to make a key ingredient in cocktails. It refers to extracting the oil from citrus peels by using sugar. Peel a lime and place the peels in a bowl along with a handful of mint leaves. Sprinkle a few ounces of granulated sugar on top, muddle it lightly into the peels and mint. After a few hours, the sugar will have extracted the oils from the peels, leaving you with a slightly messy yet delicious syrup. Juice the remainder of the lime.
In a cocktail shaker with ice, add:
✅ 2 oz. Diplomático Mantuano ✅ 1 oz. Lime and mint Oleo Saccharum ✅ 1 oz. Fresh lime juice
Shake and strain into a coupe glass. Optional: garnish with lime peel. Makes one zero-waste cocktail. Legal drinking age only. Please enjoy responsibly.
A big thanks to the Donate the Difference sponsors:
When Hellmann’s Canada launched a new app called Fridge Night, their intention was to help Canadians be more resourceful with their food, waste less in the kitchen, save money (and the planet!) … and to have a lot of fun with it!
Fridge Night is free and easy and aims to reduce household food waste by a third.
Rooted in behavioural science, Fridge Night features a series of fun, weekly challenges hosted by MasterChef Canada finalist Andy Hay, to help Canadians create delicious meals from the food they can find in the fridge and pantry. Users will embark on the 4-week mission, where they will establish a ‘Use-Up Day’ and master Hellmann’s Flexipe 3+1 approach – a simple flexible recipe framework that uses everyday ingredients typically found in the kitchen or pantry to create a delicious meal: a carbohydrate base, most-wasted vegetables or fruit, a source of protein, plus a magic touch of spices or a sauce to bring the dish together.
As an extension of Hellmann’s ongoing partnership with Second Harvest, for every meal completed within the app, Hellmann’s will also be donating a meal, on users’ behalf, to those in need via Second Harvest, for 25,000 meals in total.
The Mission:
1 night a week for 4 weeks
Grab your left-behind food
Select a ‘Flexible Recipe’, designed to use up food you already have
Make a delicious meal that everyone will love.
To get started, visit Hellmann’s Fridge Night, download the app and help Hellmann’s reach their 25,000 meal goal.
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