As is CAFE tradition every single holiday season, we recently collected and donated direly needed non-perishable food items to local community food banks. This time, we partnered up with Fort York Food Bank, Parkdale Food Bank and Flemingdon Food Bank. As with our annual toy drive, the community showed up and pitched in generously throughout the month of December, making our final collection nothing short of amazing.
A couple of weeks ago, our CAFE team gathered the food items from all of our locations and headed over to the food banks to deliver the donations. We had three stops to make, and the day was biting cold. For us, this meant being outside in the harsh conditions for a few minutes as we unloaded the items and brought them inside, but we were overwhelmed to see the lineups of people waiting outside the food banks in the freezing temperatures. This was truly a humbling sight to see, but not surprising. Toronto has seen a 51% increase in the number of people using food banks in 2023, with over 2.5 million visits to sites just like the ones we partnered with over the past year.
We split the donations across the three sites, and had the opportunity to meet with all of the dedicated staff and volunteers that were working to ensure that the food was unpacked, sorted and distributed to those waiting. Their tirelessness and dedication was incredibly inspiring to all of us present that day.
Fort York Food Bank, Parkdale Food Bank and Flemingdon Food Bank are pillars of our local society, with each site serving different communities across the GTA. These organizations work year round, not just during the holidays, to meet the needs of Torontonians. Our donations were simply a drop in the bucket, yet all three food banks were very thankful and appreciative of our efforts. While the events of the day humbled our hearts, the team was filled with a renewed resolve to continue our efforts to serve our community in any way we can.
