The hugely successful Bringing Toronto Back to Its Feet program is back and feeding communities and people in need over the holiday season and winter months.
The MLSE-backed community meal donation program, along with the support of Solidarity Kitchens and Second Harvest, is ensuring the delivery of thousands of meals each day to those who need it most.
This past summer, the program produced 13,000 meals per day at its peak to provide a total of 500,000 meals to over 75 community agencies and frontline healthcare workers and their families at 25 hospitals and healthcare facilities in the Greater Toronto Area.
The role of Second Harvest, with the support of its network of food donors, is to supply fresh, surplus ingredients to the MLSE team. The chefs will then turn those food supplies, along with other food purchased or donated to the program, into fresh, nutritious, ready-to-heat meals suitable for a variety of dietary needs. Meals will then be labelled and delivered by Second Harvest, to a network of community agencies.
“We have heard first-hand about the incredible impact these prepared meals have on the lives of people struggling with hunger and limited access to food programs,” said Lori Nikkel, CEO of Second Harvest. “This initiative is improving lives and bringing hope and we are again grateful to MLSE and its partners for mobilizing this incredible team to help us provide healthy and delicious meals to Torontonians.”
In December alone, MLSE’s chefs and food and beverage staff, along with employees throughout the company, will prepare more than 130,000 meals for distribution while the venue remains unused for events.
Solidarity Kitchens, created by La Tablée des Chefs and financially supported by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada emergency fund, has given grants to Canadian initiatives, including Bringing Toronto Back To Its Feet, with a goal of creating 2 million meals for those in need across the country.
In a large soup pot, sauté onions, celery and beets with oil over medium-low heat. Cover with water and add lemon juice.
Bring to a low simmer, and cook until vegetables are very tender about 45 minutes.
Remove from heat and let cool slightly. In batches, puree the soup in a blender.
Return pureed soup to pot and place over medium heat. Bring to a simmer and season with vinegar, sugar, ginger, apple sauce, salt and pepper.
Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Chill overnight and serve cold.
Tip: Garnish this recipe with Greek yogurt or sour cream and chopped chives.
Food is one of the most powerful tools we have for building trust at Covenant House Toronto. Homeless youth have often been abused and rejected by the very people who were supposed to love and protect them. These youths are highly mistrustful of adults and the first step we take to establish trust with youth is to feed them.
Second Harvest is committed to getting food to Canadians experiencing food insecurity. During the pandemic, our charitable work around hunger relief has grown increasingly important to ensure everyone has access to the food they need to nourish themselves and their families. As mentioned in our post Food rescue on the global stage, Second Harvest was recognized by the United Nations FAO on World Food Day for continuing to fight the food insecurity crisis.
Over $10M of vital funding for hunger relief distributed
Second Harvest is a strong funder of community programs, especially those that focus on hunger relief and redirecting food waste to those who need it most. Along with COVID relief funding from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, we distributed $10,158,562 to 684 organizations across Canada, with 25% directed to Indigenous-led organizations.
In addition, support from The Sprott Foundation, Loblaws and the North West Company enabled Second Harvest to provide $10M in grocery gift cards and food vouchers to 588 nonprofits and 137 communities, including Indigenous and remote communities.
Making a difference to hunger relief: In their own words
“We are grateful for the funding and support. We started providing large food bundles to our prenatal patients and we are beyond excited to be combating food insecurity in pregnant women in our community.”
Igloolik Health Centre, Igloolik, NU
“One community member said, ‘I almost cried seeing all that food; my kids were so excited.’ Thank you Second Harvest for supporting our urban Indigenous community.”
First Light, St. John’s, NL
A look at some accomplishments
A+ Rating: Charity Intelligence Canada recognized Second Harvest as an A+ rating in its Charity Intelligence Chart in the “Results Reporting” category.
At Second Harvest, we love our volunteers! And while COVID-19 continues to restrict in-person volunteering, we still need your help to get much-needed food to people in need during the holidays. Here are two ways you can help right now, from your own home.
Start a holiday fundraising campaign for Turkey Drive
Our annual Turkey Drive is on now and our goal is to raise 8,000 turkeys and deliver them to frontline non-profits in the GTA. Register yourself or gather your family, friends, classmates and colleagues to create an online team and fundraise to reach your turkey goal. Sign up today by visiting Holiday Turkey Drive.
Buy a bird
Every $25 donation equals one turkey delivered to a community organization in Toronto and the GTA. Click here to donate
On behalf of the 300+ frontline agencies that we serve, thank you for making volunteering part of your holidays!
This Giving Tuesday, the “global day of giving” rallies the world to focus on charities. The goal for Second Harvest, along with the incredible matching partnership by the Liu Fu Yu Foundation, is to raise enough funds to provide 40,000 meals to Canadians.
The global movement for giving and volunteering takes place each year after Black Friday; it’s a time when charities, companies and individuals join together and rally for favourite causes to harness the generosity of people around the world. It also brings together the collective power of nonprofits, civic organizations, businesses and corporations, as well as families and individuals – to encourage and amplify small acts of kindness.
Join us for #GivingTuesday on December 1, 2020 and follow @secondharvestca for progress and updates.
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