Thank you so much to everyone who donated to our Holiday Drive. The Holiday Drive ended on December 31st with $2.1 million raised and just over 550,000 pounds of food donated, against our original goals of a million pounds of food and $1.5 million dollars. We are very happy that the extra dollars raised will let us purchase food to make up for the shortfall in food donations. The food and money donated will allow us to get food out for the next few winter months to over 200 community agencies across Toronto.

Our Spring Drive will begin on March 16, 2013.

Daily Bread’s Holiday Drive has exceeded its new financial goal of $1.7 million and raised $1.85 million. While the Holiday Drive started with a goal of $1.5 million, slow food donations meant a last-minute increase to the financial goal with the hope of having enough money donated to make up for a shortfall in food donations.

“We set a goal of trying to raise a million pounds of food. A month into the drive, we weren’t even halfway there. We needed to make sure we had either enough food donated or enough money to buy food so we increased our financial goal,” said Gail Nyberg, Daily Bread’s executive director. “Our dollar does stretch further, so that extra $350,000 will make sure our shelves are full and ensures we have enough for food hampers in January, February and March.”

Nyberg made the announcement this morning at Daily Bread’s warehouse where, for the second day in a row, over 300 volunteers helped sort through some of the 545,000 pounds of food donated so far.

“It’s always great to see so many volunteers here on their holidays helping. I’m reminded of all the time and energy spent by countless people this holiday season that I don’t get to see first-hand, who organized fundraising events, collected food at work or school and helped support all that we do to fight hunger,” said Nyberg. “I want to thank every donor who has contributed to this drive.”

Daily Bread’s Holiday Drive officially ends on December 31. As of December 27, $1.85 million and 545,000 pounds of food have been donated. Nutritious, non-perishable food donations can still be dropped off at any local fire hall, Loblaws, No Frill, valu-mart or participating grocery store. Most needed food items include: pasta, dried/canned beans or lentils, rice, canned fruit and vegetables, baby formula and food, tomato sauce, peanut butter and canned or powdered milk. Daily Bread does not receive any funding from the United Way.

To get your donation in on time to receive a tax receipt for 2012, donations can be made easily and securely online at www.dailybread.ca or by mailing a cheque by December 31 to Daily Bread Food Bank, 191 New Toronto St., Toronto, Ontario, M8V 2E7.

The lobby of the Sheraton Centre hotel is a-buzz with television personalities, fans, and jolly old Saint Nick for Citytv’s fifth annual Spirit of the Season holiday party, benefiting Daily Bread Food Bank.  This annual party is a full-day event starting at 5:30a.m. with Breakfast Television and ending at 6p.m. with CityNews at Six.  Viewers are invited to take part in live television and learn more about how Daily Bread Food Bank helps fight hunger every day of the year.

For many of Citytv’s regular viewers the Spirit of the Season holiday party has become a yearly tradition drawing in over 300 people alone for the live broadcast of Breakfast Television, attracting both regular viewers and visitors who were in for a little holiday treat while staying at the hotel.  This lighthearted event is not only a fundraising event but also raises awareness about poverty.  With face painting, live entertainment and on-air giveaways, this event delivered a fun day of live television that put everyone in the holiday spirit and made them a little more aware of hunger in Toronto.

While the day was winding down there was still a festive spirit in the hotel lobby with another visit from Santa. Over $38,000 and 3200 pounds of food was raised to help fight hunger this holiday season. A big thank you to Walmart for stepping up and generously donating $30,000 to Daily Bread’s Holiday Drive!

by Kate Grant, Communications Volunteer

As people gear up for this season of giving, Daily Bread is asking people to think about their neighbours in need this holiday. With only 375,000 pounds of food donated, Daily Bread’s Holiday Drive has just over two weeks to raise 625,000 pounds to meet its goal of one million pounds of food.

“There are so many people right now organizing events, food drives or donating to help people in this city who are hungry and I am so grateful to them,” said Gail Nyberg, Daily Bread’s executive director. Daily Bread is hoping the people of Toronto can help make a difference by donating food or money to the Holiday Drive, which ends on December 31.

“We’re also looking to raise $1.5 million and we’re now at just over a million dollars. What has me the most concerned is how behind in food donations we are. They’re trickling in, but we need a lot more to make sure our shelves are full this winter,” said Nyberg. “I’m hoping that while people are out grocery shopping this weekend for Christmas dinner, they’ll think about picking up a bit extra for those who need it most. And if we can’t reach our food goal, I’m hoping we can exceed our financial goal so that we can use the money to make up for the shortfall in food donations.”

Nutritious, non-perishable food donations can be dropped off at local fire halls, Loblaws, No Frills, valu-mart or a participating grocery store. Most needed food items include: pasta, dried/canned beans or lentils, rice, canned fruit and vegetables, baby formula and food, tomato sauce, peanut butter and canned or powdered milk. Daily Bread does not receive any funding from the United Way.

Financial donations can be made easily and securely online at www.dailybread.ca or by mailing a cheque to Daily Bread Food Bank, 191 New Toronto St., Toronto, Ontario, M8V 2E7.

Friday, December 21st at Sheraton Centre (downtown Toronto)

Starting at 5:30 a.m. with Breakfast Television Bring a donation of non-perishable food or money for Daily Bread’s Holiday Drive.

Can’t make it? Watch live online, or make a donation right now.

When the sun came up on Friday December 14th the party at Yonge and Dundas Square was already well under way!

Staff from Home Depot, Breakfast Television and Daily Bread Food Bank were joined by hundreds of people braving the early morning chill in search of the perfect Christmas tree. For the 6^th year in a row, Home Depot donated over 1000 locally grown trees while Breakfast Television organized the party and brought their cameras! The event drew crowds with trees of all sizes available for a minimum donation of $10, with all proceeds going directly to Daily Bread Food Bank.

Gail Nyberg, Daily Bread’s executive director, commented on the great party atmosphere that was created thanks to the dedication and support of Home Depot and Breakfast Television. With a band singing Christmas carols, free hot drinks from Tassimo and lots of prizes to be won from Home Depot – energy and spirits were high!  Ray Goral and Thomas McCulloch of Home Depot had been up since 4:30 a.m. making sure that all of the trees were ready to go. For them, this event is all about giving back.  And with over 30 staff associates volunteering their time, one of the benefits is that it really builds community and brings people together for a great cause.  The energy of volunteers was truly infectious as they sang and danced with everyone in line and brought out the smiles on both young and old.

In just a few hours almost all of the trees had found a home for the holidays and Daily Bread Food Bank was one big step closer to reaching their holiday goals with the event raising over $12,000. Each month Daily Bread member agencies receive over 67,000 visits from children and adults. To help provide much needed support, Daily Bread Food Bank is hoping to raise $1.5 million dollars and collect 1 million pounds of food. With just over a week until Christmas, you can still help make this goal a reality and provide support to food banks and meal programs across Toronto during this holiday season.

By Heather Brady, Communications Volunteer

While Rudolph and the reindeer are resting and preparing for Christmas Eve, Santa Claus is busy on a journey across Canada and the United States with the Canadian Pacific Railway raising money, food, and awareness for local community food banks.

On December 1^st, the Holiday Train made a stop at Runnymede station here in Toronto, raising money and gathering food donations in support of Daily Bread Food Bank. With a line-up of great musicians playing Christmas favourites, the train truly brought the energy and spirit of the holidays to our city! The excitement of the children in the crowd was contagious as the train came to a stop and a boxcar magically converted into a stage for the energetic performers.

While Santa Claus visited with the hundreds of children that came to see the train, families danced and waved their arms to stay warm and celebrate the music. Since 1999, The Holiday Train has given children across the country, in small towns and big cities, an opportunity to meet, dance and sing along with Santa Claus. The 14 brightly decorated rail cars will visit 150 communities and travel a distance of 10,000 kilometres this year alone.

In the last thirteen years the Holiday Train program has raised more than 6.4 million dollars and 2.6 million pounds of food. Each year the amount of food and money donations has increased, thanks to the generous support and enthusiasm of the communities visited by the Holiday Train. In addition to the donations made by all of those that attended the event, Canadian Pacific employees donated $5000 to the Daily Bread Food Bank, with an additional contribution of $750 from Toronto area employees. This support will go a long way to helping Daily Bread reach our holiday goal of raising $1 million and 1.5 million pounds of food.

If you were at the concert on December 1^st and you took a picture of the Holiday Train – don’t forget that you can enter the ‘Capture the Spirit’ contest for a chance to win a donation to Daily Bread along with other great prizes! Visit: https://www.wf-site.com/microsite/pages/e0e0f54db548637c to enter.

by Heather Brady, Communications Volunteer

While Santa Claus was getting kids in to the spirit of the season along the parade route in Toronto this past weekend, Daily Bread was getting ready for its annual Holiday Drive. The campaign officially starts today with the announcement of a goal to raise $1.5 million by December 31.

“The money raised during the Holiday Drive helps out people during some of the toughest winter months. It allows us to buy perishable food like meat, eggs and yogurt as well as fresh vegetables and fruit,” said Gail Nyberg, Daily Bread’s executive director. “It also means we can keep our trucks out on the road delivering food donations to those in need.”
In addition to a $1.5 million goal, Daily Bread is also looking to raise almost a million pounds of food. Most needed food items include pasta, dried/canned beans or lentils, rice, canned fruit and vegetables, baby formula and food, tomato sauce, peanut butter and canned/powdered milk.

While Daily Bread provides food for over 66,000 visits to food banks a month across Toronto, Nyberg said that it’s “important to remember that food banks and meal programs are often multi-service organizations that support people in so many different ways. Our member agencies, among other things, are also running cooking and nutrition classes, community gardens and pre-natal programs for expecting mothers.”

More than just a food bank, Daily Bread’s information and referral program trains volunteers to provide clients with information on social assistance, housing and education. An onsite food services training program provides valuable work experience through an intensive 16-week program in Daily Bread’s kitchen. Trainees in this program helped prepare some of the 170,000 meals that went out to shelters, hostels and meal programs last year.

Food donations can be dropped off at any local fire hall, Loblaws, No Frills, valu-mart, Real Canadian Superstore or any participating grocery store. Financial donations can be made easily and securely online at www.dailybread.ca or by mailing a cheque to Daily Bread Food Bank, 191 New Toronto St., Toronto, Ontario, M8V2E7.

Using art-based projects can be a powerful way of bringing a community together to help others, and to raise awareness of the challenges people in our city face when it comes to hunger. That’s what we aimed to achieve with our neighbours when we started DailyFlag for DailyBread, a month-long community art project. Neighbours in The Beach designed, made and displayed one flag each on their front lawn. Unveiled daily in our neighbourhood and on our website: www.dailyflagfordailybread.wordpress.com, each flag was then auctioned off online to the highest bidder from December 1^st until January 12th.

“Daily Flag 1 (2011)″ by Benedict Hilliard at 60 Leuty Ave. This Flag raised $245 in the online auction last year.

Inspired by a neighbourhood “advent windows” project held in our old neighbourhood in London (UK), we wanted to bring a similar tradition to our new neighbourhood in Toronto (Canada). Three years ago, with the help of some talented friends, we made numbered paper flags that we stuck on poles on our front lawn each day from December 1^st to 25^th and then published photos of them on our Facebook pages. Friends and family from around the world followed our little project and started asking to buy them. We decided to offer them to the highest bidder and donate the money to Daily Bread Food Bank. We sold off about half the flags and raised $600.

By 2011, it was an official fundraising event that we called DailyFlag for DailyBread and the project was a terrific success.  We asked 24 other houses on our street to take part and raised over $5,500 and over 700 pounds of food that included flag auction sales, donations from other neighbours and local businesses and students from Williamson Road Junior Public School.

This year we’re doing it all again, and we’ve set a goal of $7,500. Thirty-two houses in The Beach will creating and auctioning off flags. You can start bidding online at www.dailyflagfordailybread.wordpress.com from December 1^st to January 12. Come down to The Beach to see the flags up close from December 1^st to January 12^th on Leuty and Violet Avenues.

- Benedict Hilliard & Michelynn Laflèche, DailyFlag for Daily Bread organizers and flag makers.

We are now two weeks in to the Holiday Drive with goals of 1.2 million pounds of food and $1.2 million to reach before January 3rd. We’re obviously not there yet, but thanks to your generous donations, we’re off to a good start! So far you’ve helped by donating over 211,000 pounds of food and over $330,000.

Every little bit helps, whether you can donate one can of tuna or 100. You can start making an impact by donating to the Holiday Drive right now online or by dropping off non-perishable food donations to your local fire hall or grocery store (including Loblaw, no frills and valu-marts). Our most needed food items include canned tuna and meat, canned fruits and vegetables, baby food and formula, rice, pasta and sauce as well as dried and canned lentils and beans.

Have you ever considered running a food drive at your school or workplace? It’s easy to do and a great way to start making a difference in the community. Find out more by clicking here.