By Pepper Parr
August 20th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
It has come to this:
We now have a Hunger Action Month. The Burlington Food Bank and FeedHalton are set to mark Hunger Action Month during September – the demand for food services are at an all-time high in the City and Region.
Robin Bailey, Executive Director of the Burlington Food Bank
Hunger Action Month is a campaign that takes place across North America and here via our partner, Feed Ontario; the purpose is to raise awareness of hunger in our communities, province, and country, and to encourage our neighbours to take action in four key ways: Educate, Advocate, Volunteer, and Donate.
By the end of this past July, the Burlington Food Bank had surpassed the total number of unique individuals served in 2024 versus in all of 2023 by over 50 people. The average number of daily visits increasing over the summer from approximately 30 to 50 each day.
Occasions like this are frequent at the Burlington Food Bank – students just show up with food they have collected – a bin is rolled out and the donations gets put on shelves to be distributed to people who walk in needing food.
Overall, our food bank services in Burlington are up 42% over 2023. In Ontario, food bank usage has increased for the 6th consecutive year with 1 in 3 visitors accessing a food bank for the first time last year.
“Food banks provide help during times of crisis,” says Robin Bailey, Executive Director of the Burlington Food Bank and FeedHalton, “and we are seeing more and more people in crisis.
FeedHalton was developed in 2023 in response to growing numbers of people living with food insecurity in Halton, through the Burlington Food Bank’s program of delivering food and essential goods to other organizations. We needed to think and act bigger to fight hunger in Halton and provide sustainable solutions to our community.”
Amongst other activities, FeedHalton will host a Regional Food Sort on Wednesday September 25 with invited elected officials from across Halton and all levels of government. This morning of action will bring together the Halton Region to learn more about FeedHalton and how they can support our efforts in creating a more food secure Region.
The Hunger Action Month will include a flag raising; the Pier lights will be blue the day before the flag goes up.
Wednesday September 25: At FeedHalton’s location in Burlington (5280 Mainway) the Regional Food Sort with elected officials from across Halton (see invite attached). We’ve had great response to this and it will be a good time to speak to officials at all levels of government about food insecurity in our community.
At Burlington Centre, Canstruction 2024 where 4 local secondary school STEAM teams will design and build structures made of non- perishable food in a competition event. Hold Tuesday October 1 for judging, speeches and media evening.
The Burlington Food Bank has been serving the Burlington community for over 30 years. The mission is to provide healthy food and essential goods to those experiencing food insecurity with compassion, timeliness and dignity. We operate with over 100 volunteers who support our mission and community each day.
FeedHalton, launched in 2023 provides a coordinated and comprehensive approach to addressing food insecurity in the Halton Region. FeedHalton centralizes the procurement, sorting, shipping and distribution of food and essential goods to an agency network partners of food banks and community service organizations.
The FeedHalton’s 11,000 sq ft warehouse is located at 5280 Mainway, Unit 5 in Burlington.
FeedHalton is in the process of obtaining charitable status. When this occurs, the organization will be separated from the Burlington Food Bank. FeedHalton addresses the larger regional area by centralizing operations and servicing needs through community agencies and the Burlington Food Bank will continue to service individuals in need of food directly.
I find it particularly gross how politicians will attend food bank events and ensure they get their photo ops and write their “I’m concerned/thank you” posts, while doing nothing to actually fix the problems which cause so many to require food banks, and often in fact have a major hand in creating the problems in the first place.
Kudos, as always, to those who volunteer to help those in need in various ways all year, without fanfare and without selfies, plaques and photo ops.
What is the role of Burlington Food bank vs Halton?
Editor’s note:
The Burlington Food Bank (BFB) serves the people of Burlington. FoodHalton is an organization that collects food and distributes it to Burlington, Milton, Oaville and Halton Hills. Food Halton is the larger organization. Currently it is tucked under the wing of BFB until is has its own charitable registration number. The organizations that donate food get a tax receipt that can be issued by an organization with a charitable registration number.