Feed Ontario launches COVID-19 Emergency Food Box Program
Posted: May 8, 2020
Categories: Food in the News / GoodFoodBites
Feed Ontario’s COVID-19 Emergency Food Box Program creates pre-packed emergency food boxes for food banks across Ontario
Feed Ontario has launched a new COVID-19 Emergency Food Box Program, aimed at helping Ontario’s food banks continue to support their communities while minimizing exposure to COVID-19.
The program was developed in partnership with local food banks and Food Banks Canada, with a contribution from the Government of Ontario.
“As COVID-19 continues to impact our communities, people are relying more heavily on food banks to help make ends meet,” says Carolyn Stewart, Executive Director at Feed Ontario. “But COVID-19 has also increased challenges for food banks, making it harder to acquire food locally and reducing the number of volunteers able to safely help distribute food.”
The Emergency Food Box Program centralizes a number of the usual processes that are needed to operate a food bank, including purchasing food items in bulk and pre-packing individual food boxes prior to distribution. By combining these efforts, the program helps to address local level labour shortages, support physical distancing measures, and meet the surge in demand by helping to address food shortages.
“Through the program, food banks across the province will receive pre-packed emergency food boxes with enough food for someone in need to stay home for a full week,” says Stewart. “However, Feed Ontario has set an ambitious goal: to produce enough boxes for everyone who visits a food bank in Ontario to receive 14 days’ worth of food, or two boxes each.”
Read more and check out a video on the program in the full news release here.
To learn more and donate, visit https://feedontario.ca/covid-19.