May 2008
second harvest times Delivering fresh surplus food
to those in need.
An Evening of Appreciation
Some of the renovation team from the Daniels Corporation with Executive Director Zoë Cormack Jones
ON APRIL 10th, over 100 people gathered in
What started as a casual conversation about 15 years ago led to an incredible relationship between
Second Harvest’s new warehouse to celebrate
The Daniels Corporation and Second Harvest.
generosity: the generosity of the donors
Many years ago, Mitchell Cohen, the President of The Daniels Corporation, was attending a
who made the expansion possible, and the
work function and asked the caterer, Andrew Zimbel of Amazing Food Service, what would happen to
generosity of the volunteers who keep
the leftovers. Andrew told him about Second Harvest, and the rest, as they say, is history. As Mr. Cohen
Second Harvest operating every day. Board learned more about Second Harvest, his support, and the support of the company grew enormously.
President David Foy and Executive Director For the last 13 years, The Daniels Corporation has been the Presenting Sponsor of Toronto Taste.
Zoë Cormack Jones thanked the major donors
The company has helped in many other ways:
whose donations of time, expertise, products,
• When our offices were broken into in 2005, Mitchell called the office to see how he could help.
and cash enabled the growth of the ware-
• When we worked with Regent Park school on a fund-raising production of Peter Pan, the Daniels
house and office by 70%.
Corporation became the lead sponsor and provided material for the students to build their sets.
In response, Don Pugh, representing the
• When we moved into our current location in 2001, Daniels employees donated their time and
Daniels Corporation, (see sidebar) spoke from
secured donations for our office.
the heart about why he feels so passionate
• Daniels continues to spread the word about Second Harvest. They send letters to their suppliers,
about supporting Second Harvest. “When I
encouraging them to invest in a sponsorship or purchase tickets in support of Toronto Taste.
grew up, we joked that if there hadn’t been
• One of the Daniels’ employees, Joe Sciberras, who supervised the recent expansion at Second
ice cubes in the freezer, there wouldn’t have
Harvest, enlisted his father to come and help hang pictures once the walls were painted. Our family
been any solid food in the house!” Despite his of supporters grows!
light-hearted approach, his message was very • During our recent expansion of our warehouse, once again Daniels donated their time, their con-
clear. You never know who is hungry in our tacts, and secured a range of donations for the new space. We definitely “love where we work” now!
continued on page 4
Second Harvest's mission is to help feed hungry people by picking up and preparing excess fresh food and delivering it daily to social service agencies in Toronto.
Our vision is that no one need ever go hungry in the communities we serve.
Joe Chesham
the opportunity arose, the Communications been leveraging their connections with, for
Committee recommended we take advantage instance, Vapor Music and Sound Design to
of Gee Jeffrey's generosity. Gee Jeffrey has donate their time in creating and recording
a stellar reputation as an award-winning clever radio ads, which are played regularly on
agency who works with well known brands a number of Toronto stations. GJP pulled in
right across North America. Secondly, they favours from Wild Postings, a company who
were willing to work with us to provide a donated their time to hang hundreds of
consistent look and feel on all of our material, posters for Lunch Money Day throughout the
whether it was on our trucks, our postcards downtown core. They used their contacts to
(like the enclosed Toronto Taste card), our secure free web banners advertising Lunch
online presence, the radio ads which you may Money Day on lavalife, canoe.ca, Toronto.com,
have heard for Lunch Money Day, and every- and MTV. We would like to thank everyone at
Joe Chesham is Co-Vice President of Second Harvest,
and Chair of the Communications Committee. thing in-between. Finally, and most impor- GJP who has gone above and beyond in their
tantly, we knew that we had to increase the support of Second Harvest: Allan Gee, Lisa
awareness of Second Harvest in the Greater Greenberg, Trevor Schoenfeld, Ellen Zabitsky,
THIS MONTH'S NEWSLETTER marks the Toronto Area. If you're reading this newsletter, Mary Gallop, Casey Sharp and Irene Pau.
introduction of the new look of Second you already know that Second Harvest is an As always when working with a creative
Harvest. We are very excited to reveal our new amazing organization, but there are a lot of team, it's a learning process of what works
logo, which will be rolled out gradually over people in Toronto who don't know about the and what doesn't – how edgy to go versus
the next few months. You will soon be seeing great work we do. These people are potential keeping things safe and comfortable.
it on our trucks, our drivers’ uniforms – even food donors, financial donors, and volunteers, Between the key members of Second
in the grass on the side of the Gardiner and it's vital to our mission that they learn Harvest's staff and consultation with the
Expressway courtesy of our friends at Weber. about Second Harvest and why they should Communications Committee, we have been
The logo has been created by a team of brand be supporting us. able to work in tandem with GJP to produce
experts at the ad agency Gee Jeffrey and Once the GJP team did their research on material that we believe will achieve our
Partners. Second Harvest, they too became passionate objective of raising awareness of the
This is the first time that Second Harvest about our vision that no one need go hungry important work that Second Harvest does.
has had a full-service agency providing sup- in the communities we serve. Since We hope you agree.
port for all of our brand material, and when September, the GJP team has logged hun-
dreds of hours – often on their weekends or JOE CHESHAM
evenings – working to spread the word of the
Second Harvest cause. In addition, they have
If you would like to help us by making a donation to Second Harvest, please call us at 416-408-2594 or use the enclosed form. Thank you !
We do not rent, sell or trade our mailing lists. If you do not wish to receive our newsletter or be solicited for further donations, please contact us.
FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO SOMETIMES FEEL the work Daniels had done with the Second Volunteers who have worked more
CYNICAL about whether generosity exists in Harvest expansion. The next thing we knew, than 100 hours were invited to our annual
our big city, here are a few stories that might there was a cheque for $10,000 on my desk. Volunteer of the Year Awards. This year, we
change your mind. This isn’t the first time Galmar has supported combined the event with our Expansion
Out of the blue, I got a call from RBC us. When we held Toronto Taste at the Launch. It was a lovely way to showcase the
giving us a gas card which had earned $3,500 Downsview Hanger, we discovered very late in generosity of our community. For all of you
credit at Petro Canada. The donor thought the game that there wasn’t enough electricity. who volunteer for Second Harvest, your
that Second Harvest could use the card Galmar came to our rescue then, too! commitment to our mission is an inspiration.
towards gas for our trucks. He wasn’t looking I spent much of Lunch Money Day on the
for recognition; just saw a need and thought road, visiting companies that were running
he could help fill it. campaigns. Large companies like Shoppers
The same was true with our friends from Drug Mart and WSIB and smaller companies
Sodexo. Jon Kristjanson, who works with us like Dancap Productions all jumped on board
on the Feeding Our Future program, was in to raise money to help feed those in need. Zoë Cormack Jones
the office for a meeting and casually gave These organizations are not doing it for Executive Director
us $2,500 in Loblaws gift certificates, again recognition; they are employee-driven cam-
because he thought we could use it. paigns that result in many “feel good” stories.
We certainly can use it, and so appreciate Speaking of “feel good”, we had a number
these out-of-the-blue donations. of volunteers from our various recipient
Don Pugh from The Daniels Corporation agencies collecting money in the freezing
was recently talking to a member of the cold at the subway stations on Lunch Money
Martellaci family at Galmar Electrical about Day. Folks from the Learning Enrichment
Foundation and the Centre for Opportunities,
Respect and Empowerment (C.O.R.E.) shook
the collection cans on our behalf.
Second Harvest Times is published four times annually with an approximate circulation of 8000.
For additional copies, contact us at 1450 Lodestar Road, Unit 18, Toronto, Ontario M3J 3C1.
Tel: 416-408-2594 • Fax: 416-408-2598 • Email: email@secondharvest.ca Charitable Registration No. 13386 5477 RR 0001
B OA R D O F D I R E C TO R S Stevie Cameron Barbara Prevedello E X E C U T I V E D I R E C TO R CO N T R I B U TO R S :
David Foy, President Robin B. Cumine Q.C. Angela Robertson Zoë Cormack Jones Joe Chesham
Colin Moore, Vice President Angelo Di Clemente Greg Smith E D I TO R Melissa Dedic
Joe Chesham, Vice President Karin McCaskill Robert Swanborough Abby Robins Joanna Matthews
Frank Amodeo, Treasurer Mark McEwan Steven TsambaIieros Glenn Osborne
Jerry Beniuk, Secretary Sharon M. Myatt
Cameron Bramwell, Past President Greg Nordal
APPRECIATION… continued from page 1 Richard played a large role in helping have picked up low-risk food like fruit, veg-
build the case that Second Harvest was etables, and muffins from St. Lawrence Market
operating at capacity and needed to expand. as well as a number of Starbucks retail outlets.
Based on his recommendations, Second The volunteers load the food into their own
Harvest decided to stay in its current location cars, and take it directly to shelters and drop-
and renovate. Richard continued to offer his in programs. The commitment of these volun-
guidance throughout the project and helped teers has eased the load considerably for
with things like reviewing quotes and layout Second Harvest’s paid drivers, and in appreci-
for the freezer. ation of their dedication and hard work, they
In addition, he has worked at the Turkey were given certificates of recognition.
Drive every year with his children, collected
money for Lunch Money Day, and last year,
chaired a committee to determine the best
use for designating money for volunteers.
Richard Kingdon has made a very real impact
Recipient of the Ian Lawson Van Toch Outstanding Young on Second Harvest’s operations.
Volunteer Award, Taylor Hall and Debra Lawson The second honouree was Taylor Hall, who
received the inaugural Outstanding Young
community, and it is everyone’s responsibility Volunteer Award, in memory of Ian Lawson
to take care of one another. The Daniels Van Toch. The award was presented by Ian’s
Corporation has certainly been taking care mother, Debra Lawson, who spoke about the Volunteer of the Year Richard Kingdon and
of Second Harvest. value of listening to our young volunteers, Second Harvest's Distribution Coordinator Sam Sing.
There were four awards given out at the and learning from their unique point of view.
celebration that night. The Volunteer of the Taylor received this award as a result of his The second group to be recognized was
Year was given to a very deserving Richard outstanding leadership and commitment to the volunteer team from Community Living
Kingdon. Richard came to Second Harvest in community service. In addition to volunteer- Toronto, who come to Second Harvest’s ware-
2001 as a Toronto Taste volunteer. Over the ing over 120 hours in just four months as a house every Monday. They sort food, wash the
years, he has done everything at the event, driver’s assistant, he also volunteered with the floor, help the drivers empty the trucks, and
from setting up to bussing tables, to being Animal Rescue Mission and is a Trail Captain cheerfully do anything else that is asked
one of the “Ask Me Anything” people. for the Bruce Trail Association. of them. They were the final group to be
With a background in the supply chain Finally, there were two groups that were honoured on April 10th, and it was a fantastic
business, he sits on the Operations honoured for their long-standing support. For way to end the evening.
Committee, which advises Second Harvest’s the last eight years, a number of volunteers
staff on operational details like warehouse
logistics and truck routing. Richard is very
hands-on, and has gone out on the trucks to
see first-hand what we do and get the driver’s
perspective. He engaged the University of
Toronto Engineering department to analyze
our routing, and secured donated GPS units
to go in our trucks last summer.
Some of the volunteer team from Community Living.
profile
Food Donor
George Brown Chef School
BEYOND ITS NATIONAL REPUTATION as a cooking weeks include ‘bean week’, When asked why George Brown Chef
leading cooking school in North America, ‘Italian cooking’, and ‘cake decorating’. School continues to donate its food to
George Brown Chef School has also proven George Brown Chef School began donat- Second Harvest, Melissa referred to the day
its excellence locally. Demonstrating its social ing their food in 2004 thanks to the efforts of she volunteered on one of the Second
and environmental leadership in the Toronto a new team of employees that year, including Harvest trucks, assisting the driver with the
community, George Brown Chef School has Melissa Douglas, the Culinary Logistics food pickups and deliveries. She responds,
donated more than 146,000 pounds of food Systems Administrator and John Higgins, “You don't realize what the need is in your
to Second Harvest since 2004. Director/Corporate Chef. Melissa explained community until you see it first hand.”
With 24 students per cooking class and that they “were stressed about the amount of George Brown College is currently
approximately 200 classes every week, food going to garbage” and therefore sought involved in a massive construction project,
George Brown Chef School has enough raw out an alternative. Melissa was already familiar which includes renovating and building
and prepared surplus food to make donations with Second Harvest through her involvement additional space to hold 50% more students.
to Second Harvest five days a week all year in the hospitality industry as well as Toronto This will result in additional cooking classes
round. Their food donations are significant in Taste. John Higgins had been the Executive for the Chef School and potentially more sur-
both volume and variety, as the type of food Chef at Fairmont Royal York, a long-standing plus food. Great news for both future students
can vary week by week according to the Second Harvest donor. and for Toronto’s hungry!
theme of the cooking class. Such themed
Would you like a copy of our 2006/2007 Annual Report?
Either call our office at 416-408-2594 or find it on-line at
http://www.secondharvest.ca/UserFiles/File/AnnualReport2006-07.pdf.
ON JUNE 8TH
Butter Poached Lobster with Grapefruit and Tamarind Braised Pork Belly…
Roquefort and Pear “Maki” Roll…
Ganache-Filled Chocolate Cocoa Snap…
Stella Artois or a glass of Kendall Jackson Chardonnay…
…If these recipes sound deliciously familiar, then perhaps you have attended Toronto Taste before.
This year, Toronto Taste will celebrate its 18th anniversary at the Double True Convection Wall Oven, or a Raptors Spectacular prize pack
Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre, with doors opening at 6:00 p.m. with courtside seats. Bid on items like an award-winning, energy-effi-
Amid its Japanese gardens, spacious rooms and state of-the-art ameni- cient Bosch dishwasher in our Silent Auction, or wines such as a 1981
ties and technology, this serene venue compliments the gastronomic Chianti Classico Riserva Ducale – Ruffino in our fabulous fine wine auc-
delights created by Toronto’s best chefs. There will be over 50 top tion. No matter how you like to spoil yourself, you are sure to be a win-
Toronto chefs, 30 vintners, brewers and wine agents, all ner. As an added bonus, all guests will take home a Toronto
in one place. Taste 2008 cookbook with recipes for some of the mouth
Returning chefs extraordinaire include: Corner watering dishes they feasted on during the evening.
House Restaurant’s Herbert & Michelle Barnsteiner, We thank the Daniels Corporation for graciously
North 44’s Mark McEwan, Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar’s returning as Presenting Sponsor for the 13th year and
Tobey Nemeth, Flow Restaurant and Lounge’s Richard showing their continued support. With their help, as well
Andino and Scaramouche’s Keith Froggett. And new to as the support of our other generous sponsors and chefs, vint-
Toronto Taste this year, we welcome sought after chefs Ben Heaton ners, wine agents, brewers, donors and guests, Toronto Taste raises over
from Globe Bistro and Guido Saldini and Andy Zeto from Noce. half a million dollars annually to support Second Harvest.
What alluring evening would be complete without the thrill of Tickets for Toronto Taste are $225 each (tax receipt for $125) and are
victory? Take a chance on our raffle, with amazing prizes such as all- on sale, so please don’t hesitate to get yours now. For your ticket reser-
inclusive trips and an awesome Weber grill. Participate in the fun of our vations call 416-408-2594 or visit www.torontotaste.ca. We look forward
live auction, with prizes including a Thermador 30” Professional Deluxe to seeing you there.
PRESENTING SPONSOR GOURMET SPONSORS Soberman LLP, MEDIA SPONSORS Finlandia
The Daniels Corporation Accenture Chartered Accountants Captivate Network Multi Design Graphics
AFICIONADO SPONSOR
Capital One Canada Weber-Stephen Products Co dine.TO Purolator Courier Ltd.
Sun Life Financial Chair-man Mills Food Network Sunquest Vacations
EPICURE SPONSORS
Evian Outdoor Broadcast Network Sunwing Vacations
CONNOISSEUR SPONSOR Bratty and Partners, LLP
Longo's Tour East Holidays
Thermador C.I.P. Group IN-KIND SPONSORS
McCormick Canada The Butler Did It
Davies Howe Partners VENUE SPONSOR
COOKWARE SPONSOR BON VIVANT SPONSORS Chandon
Holding Jones Japanese Canadian
All-Clad Metalcrafters LLC Bazil Developments Inc Vanderveen Inc Charton Hobbs Cultural Centre
GASTRONOME SPONSORS GovanBrown Mason Windows Ltd. Enbridge
DESIGN SPONSORS
Sodexo McLean & Kerr LLP Masters Insurance Ltd Eurolite Inc
GJP Advertising & Design
Stella Artois Perfect Page Senator Homes Expedia.com
Rogers Strategic Objectives
LUNCH MONEY DAY broke two important Barbara Tobias, an employee at
records this year: the sponsorship of the event Bell Temple LLP, has been running a campaign
exceeded its goal by $15,000, and the number there for a number of years. As Barbara says,
of companies and schools running campaigns “Glad we can support Second Harvest each
was an unprecedented 226. year and raise awareness – the third week in
Mackenzie Financial Charitable February has now become an office tradition.
Foundation returned as the Presenting Look forward to doing it again next year.”
Sponsor, and were pleased to be such a large Jill Yetman is another long-time Second
part of the campaign. "Turning from your Harvest supporter. She has worked at a
wallet to your own fridge for one day is easy number of companies, and always ensures
for many and tremendously helpful for that her new employer allows her to run a
thousands across Toronto," said Brad Offman, Lunch Money Day campaign. Her team at
President of Mackenzie Financial Charitable Environics Communications Inc. raised $1022
Foundation. "Second Harvest finds creative at their Eat, Greet and Compete green event,
ways to turn $5 into meals for 10 people. We which encouraged participants to don their
are truly honoured to be working with one of oven mitts, dust off a favourite recipe and
our community's most innovative charitable compete in a deliciously fun lunch.
organizations." For a second year, Scott Werry, a law clerk
Supporting Sponsors were Rogers, Biovail, at Paliare Roland Rosenberg Rothstein LLP,
Maple Leaf Foods, McCain, and Swanson wowed his colleagues with his culinary skills
Dinners. Media Sponsors were Citytv, by creating a delicious gourmet lunch. Scott’s
Metagraphic Network, Outdoor Broadcast gourmet delicacies have become a much
Network, Purolator, and Starbucks. a “dress-down week” if they donated, estab- anticipated yearly LMD tradition.
Another milestone was that all four major lishing a peer-to-peer collection committee
banks (BMO, CIBC, Scotiabank and TD) ran which sought out people who would donate
campaigns. At CIBC, one of the senior staff more than $500. Their hard work paid off: they
members offered to match whatever funds raised $26,899.57!
were raised by his department. Hearing of Starbucks, in addition to donating thou-
that challenge, another employee offered to sands of dollars of gift cards as incentives for
match those funds again, and then, a third companies running campaigns, donated all
employee offered to match those funds again proceeds of the sale of their delicious turkey/
with a "triple match", which result- havarti sandwiches on Lunch Money Day.
ed in an overall donation Sodexo is a company that provides food
of $8,790 for Second service for hospitals, universities, corporations,
Harvest. TD ran a and many other businesses. Their contribution
tremendous included a fun waffle breakfast at York John Rowell has led the students at
campaign, which University, which resulted in an overall Northern Secondary School through another
included selling donation of almost $800 and a whole lot of successful LMD campaign. The school has
raffle tickets, happy customers! been running an LMD campaign since 2001
offering Our friends at the Calphalon Culinary and with John getting the students involved
employees Center raised close to $1,000 with their annual at a young age he will ensure that they will
Second Harvest lunch. Guests were treated become socially conscious individuals!
to a delicious pasta lunch for a suggested For more stories about Lunch Money Day,
donation of $5. It was a great way to warm check out http://www.lunchmoneyday.com/
up on a cold wintry day! lmd_stories/index.php
This year’s lucky raffle winners
were Faye LeRoy (first prize),
Danielle Sneyd (second prize),
Lisa Gibson (third prize), and
Deborah Lewis (fourth prize).
profile
Agency
Antibes Community Centre
THE BATHURST AND FINCH AREA is among Second Harvest, we’d just be feeding the kids er nutrition and cooking tips while everyone
Toronto’s poorest and most under-serviced carrot sticks every day.” For the past year, enjoys a healthy lunch. “We’re trying to bring
areas but for the past nine years, the Antibes Antibes has received over 13,000 pounds of the community together with food,” says Kathy,
Community Centre has been doing their part fresh fruits and vegetables, juice and prepared “We’re trying to help people who need it.”
to help the children and families that live in foods from Second Harvest and recently
this overlooked community. received a skid of Mascarpone cheese which
The Antibes Community Centre offers Kathy turned into delicious cheesecake
pre-school and after-school programs to brownies for the kids.
children of all ages living in the neighbor- Children are not the only ones who have
hood. Throughout the school year, Antibes caught wind of this home-away-from-home.
staff members pick up 30 to 40 children from Antibes has recently seen an increase in youth
school and take them back to the community from as far as Jane and Finch visiting the
centre. There the kids have a range of activi- community centre because they feel safe and
ties offered to them such as homework help, accepted there. Antibes’ staff welcomes the
games, arts and crafts, sports, and outdoor youth and in the near future would like to
play and they also enjoy a healthy snack. integrate a merit point system for their help
Program Coordinator Kathy Fletcher prepares in maintaining and caring for the facilities.
L to R: Kathy Fletcher, Tod Debling and Sonia Romano
the food for their after-school program every To help Antibes contribute to the health of
day but sometimes has a hard time making the community, a Peer Nutrition Group from
ends meet. “A lot of times the budget doesn’t Public Health visits the Community Centre
let us get food,” says Kathy. “If it wasn’t for every Thursday to talk to parents about prop-
THE CHILDREN at the Miles Nadal Jewish
Community Centre Nursery School combined
celebrating their 100th day of school with
collecting 100 food items to be donated to
Second Harvest. They surpassed their goal by
collecting 150 items!
T you…
hank
DINING FOR SECOND HARVEST at Splendido Sopexa Canada chose Second Harvest as We had a team of children at Holy Trinity
raised about $17,000. Many thanks to Yannick its charity of choice for an Elle Canada neck School who made bracelets and sold them
Bigourdan, Chef David Lee and the fantastic tag promotion on Bordeaux wines over the to their fellow students, raising $230 to help
staff. Special thanks to Franco and Barbara holiday season. Customers who bought a Second Harvest keep its trucks on the road.
Prevedello for their involvement. It was a bottle of the special wine received a copy of Finally, the Citizens Bank of Canada chose
splendid evening! Elle magazine, and $1 from every bottle was Second Harvest as a recipient of the 2007
The DAPPP is the Dedicated Association donated to Second Harvest, raising $4,000. Shared Interest Award. The remarkable part
for Ping Pong Players, and is also Canada’s The staff and guest of The Fifth Grill did a of this award process is that the Citizens Bank
fastest growing charity ping-pong tourna- generous holiday collection raising hundreds members voted to decide who would receive
ment. This year, they chose Second Harvest of dollars in support of Second Harvest. Their their donation, which amounted to a dona-
as the recipient charity, which resulted in a talented and friendly team will also be tion to Second Harvest for $14,000!
donation of over $6,000. participating in Toronto Taste on June 8th
this year.
Run for Second Harvest
ON YOUR MARK… GET SET… GO! Mark September 28th on
your calendar… get your friends and family to sponsor you…
go have a great run… for Second Harvest!
This year, there’s another reason to sign up for the Scotiabank
Toronto Waterfront Marathon. The first 10 runners to register for
the half marathon before July 1st will have their registration fee
of $50 waived.
To register, go to www.torontowaterfrontmarathon.com/en/
charity.htm#official and for more information, contact Jordan at
416-408-2594.
Ticket Purchase
Yes, I would like to purchase __________________ ticket(s) at $225 each
I cannot attend, but would like to donate $ ______________________
Name: _____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Address: ___________________________________________________________________________________________________
City / Town: ______________________________________________________ Postal Code: ___________________________
Business Phone: ______________________________ Home Phone: _____________________________________________
Fax: __________________________________________ Email Address: ____________________________________________
Name to Appear on Tax Receipt: __________________________________________________________________________
Please charge my: ❏ Visa ❏ Mastercard ❏ American Express
Cardholder Name: ________________________________________________________________________________________
Account Number: _______________________________________________ Expiry Date: ___________________________
Signature: _______________________________________________________ Second Harvest Times – May 2008
MAIL OR FA X TO:
1450 Lodestar Road, Unit 18, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3J 3C1
Telephone 416.408.2594 • Fax 416.408.2598
Food for Thought
RECENTLY, Toronto dealt with a strike by Every day, Second Harvest’s drivers battle still useful; making sure it gets to where
the Toronto Transit Commission. There are brutal weather conditions, endless traffic it needs to go quickly and safely. We may
thousands of people in this city who rely on snarls, and regular parking tickets, while they be delivering food, not people, but we are
the TTC to get to their minimum wage jobs; pick up fresh donated food and deliver that definitely an essential service.
they faced tremendous stress by not knowing food to social service programs in the G.T.A. The issue with defining an essential
whether they would be able to get to work. If our trucks didn’t deliver the food to these service often comes down to who will suffer
They didn’t own a car, couldn’t afford a cab agencies, then kids, seniors, homeless people, if that service isn’t provided. In the case of
and many live too far away to walk. For those new immigrants, working-class families, and Second Harvest, it is those who are most
people, the possibility that they wouldn’t be thousands more would go hungry. vulnerable who suffer. Those are often people
able to get to work meant that they would In the last ten years Second Harvest has in our city who have no voice; who don’t vote
lose a day’s pay or more, depending on how fulfilled our commitment every single day because they have no fixed address or are
long the strike dragged on. Losing a day’s but one (and the drivers argued with that under the age of 18 or face severe mental
pay may seem inconsequential to many of us; decision!) to ensure that those most vulnera- health issues. But these are the people who
but to those who are struggling to make ends ble in our community, who depend on our most need our service, and that is why
meet, this would have made a very real free food, receive something to eat. Our dri- Second Harvest is essential to our community.
difference in their day-to-day lives. vers understand that people are relying on
Many argued that this made the TTC them for sustenance.
an essential service. If they are, then so is As a food rescue organization, we are an
Second Harvest. ambulance for food – picking it up while it’s
1450 Lodestar Road, Unit 18, Toronto, Ontario M3J 3C1
If undeliverable within 5 days, please return.