Fort York Food Bank e-newsletter

Once again this year, the economy was on the minds of all Canadians. The government said the recession was over but would FYFB be able to serve all of the people for whom the recession is far from over? In December FYFB distributed 1,595 food hampers and served 2,833 meals through its Community Kitchen. December also saw 112 first-time clients visiting FYFB. Imagine making your first visit to a food bank during the holidays.

During this tough year, the people of Toronto once again helped us to realize our vision of reconnecting people with our community and we couldn't be more pleased to see this city rise to the challenge.

Throughout the holidays our dedicated volunteers were supported by teams from companies across the city throughout the holiday season. We had volunteers from:

Turkey dinner was, once again, front and centre as FYFB presented the "Five Days of Turkey" through our Community Kitchen. Thanks to cooks Ken and Sonny and the kitchen volunteers for pulling off another fabulous series of meals for our clients.

The Holiday Fund Appeal raised more than $30,000 and we kicked off our Winter Relief Campaign during the (thankfully short) cold months with gift from an old friend - the Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Team Up Foundation, who donated more than $7,000.

Holiday Open House

Once again, the FYFB Holiday Open House was a great success, with volunteers, clients and friends of FYFB coming together to celebrate the season.

priceWaterhousecoopers visits FYFB
L-R: Jacqueline, Gail, Danielle, Kimberlee, Lela, and Caroleen.

Avalon Actuarial visits FYFB
Back row: Jowita Slowinska, Neil Hendry, Eric Schaefer. Middle Row: Elizabeth Lum, Raymonde Boivin, Edith Warr. First Row: Melissa Kirshenbaum, Dimitri Poliak, Franca Stefenatti. In addition Graham Dixon was there but unfortunately he had to leave for a meeting before the picture.

Santa's Helpers - Groups Photo Album

What happens when your organization makes a donation and volunteers? "Magic" according to our Groups Coordinator Margaret Cantwell. Connecting a financial contribution with the emotion of volunteering brings teams together in a special way. FYFB is grateful to all the organizations that are helping us deliver our vision of reconnecting people with our community.

The Sweet Sound of Support

On Friday, February 1st recording artists Switchfoot performed in Toronto as part of their North American tour. The band was touring to support the recent release of their album "Hello Hurricane" and FYFB was selected as the food bank to attend their show.

Got Milk?

In December FYFB made a commitment to its clients - every client will leave FYFB with one litre of fresh milk. Fresh milk supplies have been a challenge in the past and we saw an opportunity to meet more of our client's nutritional needs by supplying everyone with a litre of milk in their food hamper. Annually, this commitment will involve the distribution of more than 25,000 liters of milk. FYFB would like to thank Mr. Dairy for helping us to meet our commitment by being our milk supplier.

Coming Event

As always, we'll be closing off the Winter Relief Campaign with our first major event of the year - the TTC Blitz. For the fifth year in a row, our board members and volunteers will be asking Toronto's commuters to "help the hungry and spare some change for FYFB" by canvassing in 12 subway stations along the Yonge/University/Spadina line on the morning of Tuesday, March 23. Read about last year's TTC Blitz here.

Ways to Get Involved at FYFB

Do you know someone who'd be interested in the great work FYFB does? Tell them about us by clicking here.