Our Impact

Food is a human right. No one should go hungry or face barriers in accessing the food they need.

As a Rights-Based organization, Daily Bread Food Bank is guided by the following commitments:

1. Providing low-barrier service and equitable access to nutritious food and variety at all food programs.
   • We will facilitate access to food to anyone who needs it, regardless of circumstance, and enable food choice whenever possible. 
2. Providing respectful and dignified customer service at all food programs.
   • We will foster a welcoming and inclusive environment for all.
3. Empowering and prioritizing the people we serve.
   • Our decisions will take into account the lived experience of the individuals we serve.
4. Advocating for the realization of the right to food.
   • We will collaborate with groups and individuals to affirm food as a human right through robust advocacy for policies that encourage government bodies to act on the root causes of poverty. 
5. Fostering a culture that reflects Rights-Based Approach principles and embedding practices in our ways of operating. 
   • From the Board of Directors, leadership, employees to member agencies, we will apply a rights-based lens to our work from governance, strategy, planning, delivery, and evaluation.  
6. Embracing evidence-based decision making across the organization. 
   • Data, client input, and feedback will inform decision-making processes, and we will leverage insights to continuously improve our programs, services, and operations. 

Click here to learn about Daily Bread Food Bank’s mission, vision, values, and operating principles.

As part of our rights-based approach, Daily Bread Food Bank members offer clients a shopping model and choices wherever possible. Grocery store styles of food distribution, based on family size, allows clients to choose their food within categories and/or limits. Some may offer a choice between two items (e.g., rice or pasta), while others may offer a choice between three out of five items (e.g., within all the grain options, client may choose three). Others provide a points, menu or other system that allows for more customization.

In response to a high volume of clients, some programs also offer the option of a pre-packaged food box on certain days of the week, so those who may have time constraints or can’t wait for an appointment may access some essential food staples.

Daily Bread Food Bank is committed to ensuring that people facing hunger can access nutritious and culturally appropriate food with dignity. As food bank use reaches unprecedented levels, meeting the need requires significantly more food, funding, infrastructure and operational capacity.

Demand is outpacing food donations

Daily Bread works to secure as much donated food as possible, but donations alone are no longer enough to meet the unprecedented level of need across the city. Although Daily Bread secured two million more pounds of donated food in 2025 than in 2024, the gap between available donations and the level of need across Toronto continues to grow.

To ensure member agencies have enough food to serve their communities, Daily Bread is purchasing more food than ever before. Prior to the pandemic, approximately $1.5 million was spent annually on food. Today, that amount has grown to approximately $22 million.

Supporting a growing network

Since 2019, annual visits across Daily Bread’s food bank network have increased from just over one million to 4.1 million. Over the same period, the amount of food distributed has grown from 10.9 million pounds to more than 37.7 million pounds, while the network has expanded from 170 to 214 food programs.

Responding to this growth requires more than food. It requires the people, systems and infrastructure needed to source, store and distribute food safely, support member agencies and respond to changing community needs.

Increased demand places pressure on every part of Daily Bread’s operations, including transportation, fuel, warehousing, technology, agency support, fundraising, research, advocacy and communications. Continued investment in these areas is essential to sustaining the network and ensuring communities can continue to rely on it.

Stretching every donated dollar

Daily Bread prioritizes food sourced from Ontario and elsewhere in Canada whenever it is available in the quantities needed and at a sustainable price. Frequently purchased items such as milk, eggs and apples are sourced directly from Ontario producers.

Buying full pallets and truckloads directly from farmers and suppliers allows Daily Bread to avoid many of the additional costs built into retail pricing, including individual case picking, handling and less-efficient transportation. This helps secure more food with every dollar donated.

When an item cannot be sourced within Canada in the necessary quantities or at an affordable price, Daily Bread may purchase it from suppliers outside the country. Every sourcing decision is guided by the same goal: providing consistent access to nutritious food while making the greatest possible use of every donation.

Daily Bread is a member-based organization providing food to 144 member agencies across Toronto. These agencies run 214 different programs, which provide clients with food bank services, meals, snacks, tenant services, breakfasts and pre-natal food access.

Over the past year, Daily Bread’s network of food programs expanded significantly. We welcomed three new agencies, while our members added 10 new programs to meet growing community needs.

• After a nearby food bank closed, elders at Grace CRC McCowan Food Bank stepped in to fill the gap. They now run a low-barrier and physically accessible food bank near Scarborough Town Centre, a central hub in North Scarborough.
• Loyan Foundation opened a food bank in North Etobicoke, serving about 1,000 seniors, families and underhoused individuals in a Toronto Community Housing complex. With the nearest grocery store 10 kilometres away and nearby food banks reaching their capacity, Loyan has brought food security to this isolated community.
• In North York, Ruchema Fraidel Relief Organization provides community support and culturally appropriate food for over 400 Jewish families across Toronto.
• In the fall, Frontline Connections and The Neighbourhood Group started the Scarlet Woods Friendship Food Bank, drawing on their volunteers’ lived experience and expertise to continue providing food access after a local program closed.
• Grassroots member West Hill Community Support Program (WHCSP) expanded their hot meals and snack programs to launch the West Hill and Galloway Food Bank, which became especially vital after a nearby food bank closed. With support from Daily Bread, WHCSP refined their mission, vision and values, fundraising, and strategic plans, which helped secure a sustainable space.
• WoodGreen Community Services opened two additional food banks: St. Hilda’s is a multi-faith, nonprofit seniors’ residence with a mix of affordable, market, and rent-geared-toincome units, while Logan Food Market serves 167 seniors’ units. WoodGreen’s passionate and experienced staff provide residents with food access alongside independent living supports, medical care, and harm reduction services.
• Christie Ossington Neighbourhood Centre opened a food bank serving seniors, single parents, unhoused individuals, newcomers, and others in need. In a safe, inclusive space, their clients receive culturally relevant groceries, personalized support, and a warm welcome.
• Homes First added six meal programs across the city—serving nearly 25,000 meals monthly— and opened the Kendleton Food Bank. Serving an isolated community with mixed housing, including supportive housing for residents with mental health needs. Homes First brings extensive experience supporting low-income and marginalized populations, making their expertise a valued asset to our network.
• Christie Refugee Welcome Centre added an additional meal program at a site housing unaccompanied minors, while Centennial College’s food bank introduced a snack program for nearly 2,500 students.
• Fred Victor launched an additional meal program at Dunn House, a four-storey modular supportive housing building with 51 rentgeared-to income homes for formerly unhoused UHN patients. As Canada’s first social medicine supportive housing initiative, Dunn House offers deeply affordable housing with on-site supports to help residents live independently.
• Toronto People with AIDS, the only food program in Toronto dedicated exclusively to people living with HIV/AIDS, added a meal program to their Essentials Food Market, which offers staple groceries, culturally appropriate foods, fresh produce, pet food, baby items, and special diet accommodations.

Daily Bread provides a variety of training programs to our network of member agencies, including safe food handling, information and referral services, crisis prevention and anti-oppression practices.

In addition, Daily Bread provides Information and Referral Services from our on-site New Toronto Street Food Bank to connect clients to services such as dental and vision care, mental health, housing supports, newcomer settlement services, employment supports.

Over the past year, more than 50 grocery stores across the city donated a total of 790,454 lbs of food for redistribution to our network of member food banks. Notably, this included over 430,000 lbs of meat and protein—nutrient-dense foods that are often out of reach for people experiencing food insecurity.

The program in action
At Metro Store #719 (at St. Clair W. and Keele St.), all departments start the day by scanning items approaching their best-before dates. These are pulled off the shelves, then frozen or stored in the back, ready for pickup by Daily Bread’s trucks.

For Adriano, a department manager at the store, the work is personal. As a child, he and his mother relied on food banks, and now he’s proud to take the extra steps to ensure perfectly good food reaches the people who need it most.

Since 2023, Metro Store #719 has recovered over 50,000 lbs of food and has played a crucial role in laying a foundation for this program now adopted by many other stores.

In 2024-2025, our chefs and volunteers made 270,901 meals in the Daily Bread kitchen. This includes 25,348 meals distributed in partnership with the Red Cross Mobile Food Bank and isolation program, which delivers ready-to eat meals to individuals not able to access traditional food bank/meal programs due to health and/or other challenges.

Behind these numbers is a dedicated team. Each week, it takes 250 volunteer hours—on top of five kitchen staff—to bring these meals to life. That’s hundreds of pounds of vegetables chopped and trays of casseroles stirred and simmered!

The team takes pride in creating healthy, balanced meals made with wholesome ingredients. By working with local businesses, embracing seasonal produce, and building around versatile staples like potatoes, peppers, beans, and tomatoes, the kitchen ensures that every meal is nourishing and made with care.

Conducting in-depth, timely research is critical to advocating for policy solutions that address the root causes of food insecurity and hunger. Our advocacy strategy focuses on three key areas:

Income supports: to ensure that every person in our city has enough income to live in dignity and afford their basic needs, including food.

Affordable housing: to ensure that everyone can afford a safe and decent place to live, without having to choose between rent and feeding themselves, or their families.

Decent work: to ensure that those who are able to work, can have secure employment that provides adequate wages and benefits.

Annual Survey of Food Bank Clients: Each year, Daily Bread conducts a survey of food bank clients across the City and complements it with the data collected through Link2Feed (the client database) to produce Who’s Hungry report. The report offers critical insight into the state of poverty and food insecurity in the city of Toronto and is widely cited by policy makers, non-government sector partners and the media. Read our latest Who’s Hungry report.

Advocacy in Action:  

In 2025, Daily Bread continued to step up advocacy efforts calling for an end to poverty and food insecurity. Here is a summary of what we accomplished:

Canada Disability Benefit becomes a reality
On March 3, 2025, the federal government completed the Canada Disability Benefit (CDB) regulations, with first payments starting in July. This milestone marks the culmination of years of advocacy for disability rights across the country.

For years, Daily Bread has led a multi-pronged advocacy campaign with over 40 coalition members combining grassroots mobilization, media outreach, and meetings with government officials—to push for a fully funded benefit. The CDB is designed to reduce poverty among working-age persons with disabilities.

While this marks meaningful progress, the current CDB still falls short: of the 1.5 million Canadians with disabilities living in poverty, only 600,000 will qualify, and just 25,000 are expected to be lifted out

City of Toronto declares food insecurity an emergency
No one should have to choose between paying rent and putting food on the table. As we continue to meet urgent needs today, we remain committed to addressing the root causes of hunger and poverty for lasting change.

In December 2024, the City of Toronto adopted a motion declaring food insecurity an emergency—a landmark acknowledgment of the worsening hunger crisis. This milestone, achieved through Daily Bread’s deep collaboration
with the City, aligns with our longstanding advocacy for the right to food and underscores the urgent need for systemic solutions. But we cannot do it alone. Daily Bread engages with all levels of government to advance policies that strengthen income security, improve housing affordability, and raise wages.

School food program to address child hunger
This past year, both the federal government and the City of Toronto made major strides toward ensuring every child has access to healthy meals at school. Evidence shows that school meals improve children’s health, well-being, and academic performance, while yielding $3–$10 in economic returns per $1 invested. The federal budget 2025 committed to making School Food program permanent through legislation.

Meetings with politicians/ government staff
Meeting with elected officials and government staff is a cornerstone of Daily Bread’s advocacy. Over the past year, we met with 43 officials through policy discussions, facility tours, and food sorting events, building relationships and advancing long-term solutions to hunger. These conversations ensure that the realities faced by our clients are heard at the highest levels of government—helping shape policies that move us closer to ending hunger.

In 2024, Daily Bread’s CEO, Neil Hetherington, joined the then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and community partners to announce $108.5 million in federal funding to expand Ontario’s Student Nutrition Program.

Improving accessibility of food programs under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA).

With one third of our clients identifying as having a disability, accessibility is our priority. Using results from our network accessibility survey, we offered learning opportunities and resources to help members meet AODA requirements and enhance program accessibility.
Between January and June, we held six webinars about AODA compliance and program accessibility. We posted ten related resources to the member portal, including explanations of requirements for food programs, training modules for employees and volunteers, and samples of accessible policies and website content. At the Daily Bread Member Conference, we conducted two workshops on improving accessibility for clients.
In 2025-2026, we will continue to support compliance and accessibility efforts by hosting webinars and peer-learning events.

Network performance metrics

As part of a larger data integration project, we developed measurements to gauge our network’s capacity and
resiliency last year. This year, we introduced network performance metrics to get a combined score of program coverage, availability, efficiency, and proximity. This score reflects the relative level of need and demand in each area versus local food program capacity, helping us prioritize support and investment strategically. A lower score indicates higher need or strain on the current food program infrastructure in that zone.

A revamped training program

In response to growing demand, Daily Bread expanded and refined our training offerings with new workshops, webinars, videos, reference materials and on-demand trainings to strengthen member competencies.
Sessions on de-escalation and effective crowd management, rationing and customer service, volunteer management, as well as expert-led webinars were well received. We also offered specialized organizational support for grassroots members, focusing on governance, strategic planning and partnerships, as well as infrastructure and processes. Participating groups included West Hill Community Support Program, Mount Olive SDA and Loyan Foundation. This program will continue to evolve in 2026.

Great Place to Work certification

In May 2025, Daily Bread Food Bank received the Great Place To Work certification, an accreditation that demonstrates we are an employer of choice and underscores our dedication to building a culture where employees feel valued, connected, and inspired. To be considered for the

Certification, organizations must go through a two-step process:

1. Survey employees with the Trust Index Survey
2. Complete a questionnaire about workplace culture
   The Great Place To Work Certification criteria are the global standard
   for quantifying and benchmarking employee experience.

July, 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025

*Note: Revenue and Expenses illustrated before Other Items, which includes investment income of $1.4M
and an unrealized fair value gain on long term investments of $0.2M.

To review full audited statements, please click here.

The wages and benefits paid to each of Daily Bread Food Bank’s full-time staff meet the requirements of the Ontario Living Wage Network. For more information, visit www.ontariolivingwage.ca.