Thank you for what you made possible in 2022
To say that 2022 was a challenging year is an understatement.
The continued economic impacts of COVID-19, along with skyrocketing inflation, meant that many more individuals and families across Toronto had to turn to a food bank.
Almost without exception, each month this year set a new, bleak record for client visits to food banks. We’ve gone from an average of 60,000 client visits per month (pre-pandemic) to over 200,000.
Yet we remain hopeful because of people like you who continue to stand with us in the fight to end hunger.
The volunteers who show up day in and day out to help us manage the increasing amount of food leaving Daily Bread’s doors daily — from 30,000 lbs. pre-pandemic to 120,000 lbs.
The donors who care deeply for our neighbours and our mission.
The community, who continues to rise with a common voice to advocate for decent affordable housing, adequate income support, and an end to precarious employment.
And our ever-growing network of member agencies whose volunteers and staff work to meet the needs of the city with creativity and determination.
We are so grateful.
We are proud to share with you some accomplishments and milestones that were made possible thanks to your steadfast support in 2022:
January
Spadina Fort York Community Care
New Member Agency
Founded in March 2020, Spadina Fort York Community Care (SPAFYCC) joins the Daily Bread network and launches two food banks — one in Alexandra Park and another in St. Lawrence Market; a snack program for unhoused folks; and a grocery delivery program for seniors and folks with disabilities. The Community Care program is dedicated to bringing hope, dignity, clwothing, meals, and supplies that aim to meet the needs of the vulnerable communities they serve.
Glow and Rejoice Initiative
New Member Agency
A community led and driven program serving low-income communities in East Scarborough, Glow and Rejoice Initiative (GRI) offers empowerment programs for women to relieve poverty, wellness programs for residents, clothing, and food bank services. GRI programs also support at-risk youth in building self-esteem, preventing addictions, or assisting in the recovery from addictions. Through support from Daily Bread, Glow and Rejoice Initiative launched a food bank, breakfast program, community kitchen, and a drop-in meal program.
Unity Kitchen
New Member Agency
Unity Kitchen’s meal program was created out of a community service kitchen located inside The Church of Holy Trinity and now runs out of Trinity Square Café. Dedicated staff and volunteers provide unhoused community members with fresh food and resources such as harm reduction supplies, tents, clothing and sleeping bags. The kitchen prepares meals for 200 people per day, four days per week.
February
Feed Scarborough
New Member Agency
Responding to the general need in East Scarborough’s West Hill area, and the growing need in the city, Feed Scarborough opens their fourth Daily Bread-supported program, Rouge Park Food Bank. With a focus on dignity, Rouge Park prioritizes a shopping model where clients can choose their food. They also run a hot meal program.
March
Neighbourhood Action Networks
Capacity Building
With a goal to facilitate knowledge sharing and localized food exchange, Daily Bread’s Programs and Services team pilots Neighbourhood Action Networks with two clusters of member agencies: 15 agencies in Scarborough and eight in Etobicoke.
Agincourt Community Services Association (ACSA)
New Member Agency
Multi-service agency Agincourt Community Services Association (ACSA) opens their Anchor Agency Food Bank, serving over 10,000 clients in March. By September 2022, that number grew to almost 15,000.
“Opening up this Food Centre has been a vision we’ve had for a very long time, and it wasn’t until Daily Bread Food Bank helped with the financial resources from their Anchor Agency Program funding that we could make it come to fruition. We demonstrated that we could service a large number of food bank clients and house a large amount of food, and we’re privileged to help at a grassroots level.” – Lee Soda, Executive Director, ACSA
Client Support
Due to growing demand for Information and Referral Services (I&R), Daily Bread’s I&R team recruits more volunteers to support clients.
Research & Advocacy
Professor Ron Kneebone and Margarita Wilkins from the School of Policy Studies at the University of Calgary published a report using more than six years of Daily Bread data on food bank use. The report found that the number of food bank visits directly rises with increases in rent and falls with increases in minimum wage or disability benefits available to individuals requiring social assistance.
April
Client Support
Daily Bread’s Information and Referral Services team launches a Community Information & Outreach Table at New Toronto Street Food Bank, its on–site food bank. Through this service, clients connect directly with organizations and agencies offering additional supports, including Service Canada, Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), Elections Ontario, adult learning centres, and settlement service agencies.
May
St. Stephens in the Fields
New Member Agency
For over 30 years, St. Stephens in the Fields has run a drop-in breakfast program and other activities in the Kensington Market community. Serving unhoused individuals and other low-income folks in downtown west, St. Stephens is also involved in advocacy work around housing, income supports and food security. During the pandemic they started receiving soups and casseroles from Daily Bread, allowing them to easily prepare meals for their community members, many of whom are living with complex challenges.
Ve’ahavta
New Member Agency
Ve’ahavta, a Jewish humanitarian organization dedicated to promoting positive change in the lives of people of all faiths and backgrounds who have been marginalized by poverty and hardship, joins the Daily Bread network. Their Mobile Jewish Response to Homelessness program provides nutrition dense meals to unhoused/street–involved individuals, along with harm–reduction kits, clothing and hygiene kits.
Capacity Building
In addition to $1,000,000 in direct financial assistance to member agencies to help them cope with the ever-increasing numbers of clients, Daily Bread disbursed $1,093,262 to them in Capacity Building Grants.
Agencies Re-open
Grace Pascoe Care Centre (formerly Calvary Baptist Food Bank) and the food bank at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University) re-open after shutting down during the pandemic.
June
Client Support
Launched in March, Daily Bread’s Neighbourhood Action Networks (NAN) pilot project wraps with data indicating the project, which clustered nearby food programs so they could resource- and knowledge-share, is a great success. As a result, the Networks model will be expanded in 2023 to include all member agencies.
Research & Advocacy
Daily Bread’s Research and Advocacy team partners with North York Harvest to host ‘Food Banks 101’ sessions with Toronto City Councillors and their staff, providing ward-level data on recent record growth and food bank operations.
July
Capacity Building
Daily Bread’s Grassroots Capacity Building Project wraps, with participating organizations completing their Mission, Vision and Values; strategic plans; and practical training. Through this project Daily Bread invested in the health, capacity, and sustainability of four key community-based grassroots agencies — Allan Gardens Food Bank, Emmanuel Life Management Centre, Canadian South Asian Growth and Support Services, and SOSO World Ministries — which are delivering vital food security programs in underserved areas but lack organizational structure and require additional support for growth and stability.
August
Research & Advocacy
The Research & Advocacy team launches the Click/Hear client program. This light-touch, monthly survey of clients who were interviewed for the Who’s Hungry report offers insights into the on-the-ground realities of people who use food banks, connecting topics such as visits to the dentist to wider public policy discussions.
Operations
To meet growing need in the community, Daily Bread’s Purchasing team triples their monthly food purchasing volume — from $500,000 to $1,500,000.
Client Support
New Toronto Street Food Bank sees an unprecedented increase in client visits — from 4,854 to 8,427 — due to three local food banks in the area closing temporarily to take a much-needed break. The influx was believed to be temporary, but by November, the numbers remained high, surpassing 8,300.
September
Capacity Building
Daily Bread’s training program for member agencies resumes online and in-person, with topics including Client-Centered Service, Verbal De-escalation, Anti-Oppression, Volunteer Management, Board Governance and Safe Food Handling.
Food Bank at Toronto Perth SDA
New Member Agency
Launched in January 2019, the Food Bank at Toronto Perth SDA joins the Daily Bread network. Offering both on-site hamper distribution and food delivery, this Etobicoke agency serves the local community, as well as clients in Malton and Brampton.
Research & Advocacy
We release Season 2 of our podcast, The 2030 Project: Ending Poverty in Canada, which looks at the key planks of governments’ poverty–reduction strategies over 10 episodes.
Volunteering
After a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, Daily Bread resumes its employee volunteer program. Since the program relaunched, Daily Bread has welcomed more than 80 corporate groups and over 700 volunteers to our facility, logging nearly 2,200 volunteer hours.
October
ALARM BELL
Over 9,800 Torontonians accessed food programs for the first time this month, an 181% increase compared to the same period last year.
Client Support
With a 50% increase in calls since January, the Information & Referral Services team boosts its volunteer numbers again to try to meet the demand of client calls for information, referrals, and appointment bookings.
Research & Advocacy
Daily Bread releases A Decade of Deep Poverty, a research bulletin that delves into 12 years of data from Who’s Hungry. The report finds the income levels of food bank clients are half of Canada’s official poverty line.
November
Client Support
Daily Bread sees 208,108 client visits recorded in a single month — the first time our network has ever seen more than 200,000 client visits and the highest number on record. It is predicted this figure will hit an average of 250,000 per month by mid-2023.
Research & Advocacy
Daily Bread Food Bank and North York Harvest release the annual Who’s Hungry report, a profile of food insecurity in the City of Toronto. The report illustrates the deep strain faced by food banks and those accessing them — and sounds the alarm bell that things are NOT okay in this city.
Award
Daily Bread is recognized as one of Canada’s Most Admired Corporate Cultures, an honour given annually to just 50 organizations across the country.
December
Donor Support
Daily Bread is one of six organizations to benefit from a monumental $7.5 million gift from The Slaight Family Foundation to target food insecurity. The organizations will band together to distribute purchased and rescued food to hundreds of food-focused community agencies.
Operations
Daily Bread is now purchasing 10 times more food than it was prior to COVID.