FOOD FOR ALL
Food Banks Canada’s vision is a Canada where no one goes hungry.
As we work toward the long term solutions, through our national programs and partnerships we strive to ensure every person in Canada who needs assistance, has access to high quality, nutritious food.
Our work focuses on both ensuring that all food banks in our network have the food they need to meet the demand in their community, and ensuring our network is reaching communities from coast to coast to coast where food insecurity exists.
In March 2022, there were nearly 1.3 million visits to food banks in Canada
With the support of our donors and partners:
Last year over 31M pounds of food was received by the food bank network though our programs
The After The Bell program this year delivered 175,000 child-friendly food packs to 198 communities, reaching every province and territory. Food Banks Canada sent ~$125M in funding, 390,000 emergency hampers, 8M lbs of dairy, fish and meat, and 18.5M lbs of staples such as rice, pasta, peanut butter, dried legumes and valuable canned items such as tuna, pasta sauce, legumes and soup, to the food bank network in the first years of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Our programs and partners ensure high-quality, nutritious food is available in communities from coast coast coast
NATIONAL FOOD SHARING PROGRAM
In Canada, many of the over 5,100 food banks and community agencies that Food Banks Canada supports from coast to coast to coast report facing significant challenges as they provide the country’s most vulnerable people with essential services. Many have seen drastic reductions in their food recovery efforts, as well as a significant drop in volunteers.
“As Canadians, this is what we do — help each other in times of need. In March 2022, food banks received nearly 1.5 million visits across the country. With one third of food bank users being children, there are countless families struggling to fulfill their basic needs. We are fortunate to be able to help and hope our contribution will make a difference in the lives of our fellow Canadians.”
– Edward Kholodenko, President and CEO, Questrade Financial Group Inc.
“More and more people are using food banks, including thousands of children. Hunger in our communities is a problem that concerns us and pushes us into action.”
– Denis Ricard, President, and CEO of iA Financial Group
DEDICATED FOOD DONATIONS
Kraft Heinz Canada hosts its annual What’s For Dinner? campaign, which provides up to 2 million meals every year.
“Kraft Heinz is committed to addressing food insecurity, and our partnership with Food Banks Canada gives us the opportunity to have direct impact on the every day lives of those who need our support the most. The latest data tells us 5.8 million Canadians, including 1.4 million children, struggled to get food onto tables in the last year, and that’s not acceptable to us. As a company with products in so many pantries across the country, we truly feel it’s our responsibility to play a role in facing this important issue.”
– Adam Butler, President of Kraft Heinz Canada and North America Coffee
TRANSPORTATION & WAREHOUSING
Donations from food and consumer product manufacturers that are distributed through Food Banks Canada’s National Food Sharing System include product over-runs, production errors, labelling errors, close to code and store de-listing programs, reclamation, and bulk buys. One of the biggest challenges for the food bank network is to store and distribute these donations.
VersaCold’s storage partnership is vital to the success of Food Banks Canada, as they provide valuable cold storage while Food Banks Canada organizes shipping to the food bank network across the country. At a field level, frozen pizzas and meals are in high demand at food banks across Canada and remain a sought-after product to those we serve. These meals are easy to prepare and ideal for families. In 2021–2022, Nestle Canada donated over 350,000 lbs of these types of products, which VersaCold helped to store and distribute.
“VersaCold is proud to support Food Banks Canada. Our coast-to-coast network of warehouses and transportation services fit with FBC’s national reach and enables us to provide services when and where needed. Since the beginning of the partnership, VersaCold’s donation of in-kind services has amounted to over 1 million meals donated. Further, the integrated nature of our partnership means that our customers can transfer product into the possession of FBC, making donating simple and efficient. This partnership is a great fit for all involved and we’re glad that it helps enable Canadians in need to receive good, quality food, particularly in times of crisis.”
– Mike Arcamone, President & CEO VersaCold Logistics Services
HELP ENSURE THERE IS FOOD FOR ALL