The winter season and the current pandemic saw an exponential increase in the demand for non-perishable food items across many food banks in Canada.
The devastating impact on people’s lives and health due to COVID-19 made 2020 a difficult year which continues to date. The pandemic has also significantly hurt the economy and the financial strength of people across Canada. For some, the loss of income has caused a shortage of access to nutritious food and has led to food insecurity.
In order to provide much-needed assistance to struggling families and individuals, the volunteers of BAPS Charities organized local food drives in 14 cities across Canada. Together, the volunteers collected more than 20,000 pounds of non-perishable food items which were donated to food banks across the country.
The food banks supported by BAPS Charities include:
Alberta
Centre for Newcomers, Calgary
Calgary Immigrant Women’s Association (CIWA), Calgary
Edmonton’s Food Bank, Edmonton
British Columbia
Surrey Food Bank, Vancouver
Manitoba
Helping Hands Centre of Brandon, Brandon
Ontario
Knights Table Food Bank, Brampton
Cambridge Self-Help Food Bank, Cambridge
Stittsville Food Bank, Ottawa
Scarborough Centre for Healthy Communities, Scarborough
Feed the Need in Durham, Whitby
Daily Bread Food Bank, Toronto
Windsor Goodfellows Club Food Bank, Windsor
Quebec
Moisson Montreal Food Bank, Montreal
Saskatchewan
Regina Food Bank, Regina
Saskatoon Food Bank, Saskatoon
His Worship John Tory, Mayor, City of Toronto tweeted, “Thank you BAPS Charities for your generous donation of over 3,500 lbs of food to Daily Bread – this will provide vital support to vulnerable communities in Toronto.”
His Worship Patrick Brown, Mayor, City of Brampton tweeted, “A big thank you to my friends at BAPS Charities for donating over 5,000 pounds of non-perishable food to the Knights Table. I am so impressed by their wonderful display of generosity. We are all in this together and need to support each other during these difficult days.”
His Worship Drew Dilkens, Mayor, City of Windsor tweeted “Amazing work by the BAPS Charities, whose members collected and donated more than 1,700 pounds of non-perishable food items to Windsor Goodfellows Club on Christmas Eve. The generosity of our community never ceases to amaze me.”
“BAPS Charities is proud to support food banks across Canada to reduce food insecurity during this difficult time”, said Yogesh Patel, President of BAPS Charities Canada. “We are thankful to all of our local volunteers and donors who came together to help those who were in most need.”
