and housing these goods at its 6,000 sq. ft. Burlington space,
leased with funding by donations and government grants.
Today, Food for Life distributes over 1,600,000 pounds of
food per year, all donated by many generous suppliers. This
food, which would have otherwise gone to waste in a landfill,
has a retail value of over $5 million. Charity Intelligence, a
Toronto-based charitable foundation that performs research
and analysis on Canadian charities to help donors make their
own giving decisions, identified Food for Life as one of the
45 Top Pick Charities in 2012.
Much more than fresh food
Food for Life is not delivering the typical “food bank”
food items – instead, the focus is on delivering a variety of
perishable, healthy items, and reaching those families who
would otherwise not have access to fresh, nutritious food.
“There is a huge issue of hunger and need in Halton
Region,” says Food for Life Executive Director, Chris Roberts.
THE “FRUIT TREE PROJECTS”
The project harvests fruit
from local, urban trees, which
in turn is divided between
homeowners, volunteers
and food banks. This fresh,
organic fruit is diverted from
becoming food waste.
“In these economic times, let’s count all the
tasty, fresh peaches, pears, apples, grapes and
more, that thrive in our community!”
Trees can be apples or pears but also cherries, mulberries,
nuts, etc. and the produce needs to be in ‘edible’ condition
and preferably organic. And if you attend one of the food
canning workshops, you will be able to preserve and store
fruit for the winter season!
Both the Hamilton and Halton Fruit Tree Projects are
always looking for trees to pick, and volunteers to assist.
In Hamilton:
Juby, Project Coordinator, at Environment Hamilton:
hamiltonfruittreeproject.blogspot.ca
(905) 549-0900
[email protected]
In Halton:
Melissa Tervit, Project Coordinator:
[email protected]
(905) 466.1700
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“And there is nothing more satisfying than seeing the end result
of a hard day’s work: People in our own community are being
fed healthy food that would’ve otherwise been thrown out.”
Chris has seen first hand the process – from a late night pick
up at a local super-store, through to delivery to a local church
for that night’s community supper. “I was helping out at the
Kerr Street Mission as a volunteer, and one of the children ate
a whole plate of food so fast that when he came for seconds,
I joked with him about slowing down. He replied that this
was his only meal of the day – he did not have breakfast,
and would not have dinner. So it really is all about helping
families in need, in their own backyard.”
Poverty trends in Canada are deepening because of the gap
between cost of living and government support. As Halton
Region Health Department states, a very basic healthy diet
for a family of 4 costs $133 dollars per week. And while
those in need may have access to local food banks, nobody
can be expected to live a healthy lifestyle on non-perishable
goods alone.
Poverty Free Halton, a non-partisan volunteer committee
working to highlight the issues of poverty in the region, states
that among those who suffer the most disproportionate rates
of poverty in Halton are recent immigrants, visible minorities,
aborigin [ \