As the number of people accessing food banks continues to rise, a North York food bank is striving to do more. As CBC's Talia Ricci reports, they are not only supplying food, but also helping to create pathways to stable jobs and mobilizing clients to fight for policy changes.

North York

The North York Harvest Food Bank in Toronto is broadening its services beyond food distribution by offering job training programs, such as forklift licensing, to help clients build better futures. The organization is also working with private partners to create employment pathways and is mobilizing its community to advocate for policy changes addressing food insecurity.

With food bank usage in Toronto reaching record highs, the North York Harvest Food Bank aims to become a launchpad for long-term solutions. The organization is seeking support for a new community food hub, scheduled for completion in June 2026, which will significantly increase its capacity to distribute perishable food items.

How this North York food bank is helping to 'build a better future'

The North York Harvest Food Bank isn't just a place to turn to for a meal but also a fresh start. For this single mother who recently immigrated to Canada it's the place she'll be getting her forklift license. I wanted to go with this direction because back in my country these roles were only known for like only men can do it not women so I want to make a change of that and honestly it's amazing. While a big part of the organization's focus is on feeding people it's also fueling something bigger, opportunity. One of the ways they're doing this is by creating pathways to good jobs for food bank clients through private partnerships. It's a good thing for me the license is gonna help me build a better future for myself. What we're seeing right now is you know over four million visits to food banks last year in Toronto that means one in ten Torontonians needed to come to a food bank to meet their very basic needs. The latest Who's Hungry report showed Toronto's food bank use keeps hitting new records and faster than ever before. A grim reality that staff here want to combat with solutions by turning the food bank into more of a social enterprise. Simply put we know that we can't continue to work and do the same thing that we've always done and expect different results so we want to be more than somebody's last resort we want to be a launchpad for real solutions that deal with the problem of food insecurity at its root so that people don't need to come to food banks in the first place. They could have said oh okay let me just provide food to people who don't have food right and then stop at that right but they went further ahead. In addition to job training and keeping food prices low through their food reach program the food bank is also mobilizing their community of clients to fight for policy changes through rallies and petitions. We help put it out there for the councillors to see what's going on in our society and the cries of people in our community so we come and together and say okay what is going on this is where we feel that for example we feel that the food insecurity is alarming we need the government to check on that to work on that because the food bank was supposed to be for a temporary cost but now it has become a permanent solution over millions of people use the food bank and it keeps increasing every day. With a goal to continue helping people build stability not just survive from one meal to the next. You gain the license you gain the knowledge and honestly speaking you also gain a little family that you can have around here. Everybody's super supportive it's so good what I've learned is just a small small change can it can change a lot of people's lives. In addition to their holiday drive the North York Harvest Food Bank is also asking for support in the construction of a new community food hub it'll allow them to distribute 10 times more perishable items than they are now. That's set to be complete in June 2026. Talia Ricci, CBC News, Toronto.

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