For Food Banks and Their Communities, the Future is Already Here
It was likely inevitable. This past week, in the London Free Press,Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, Professor in food distribution and food policy at Dalhousie University, wrote the following:
“Let’s start with food banks, which can make the imperceptible nature of hunger more noticeable. They are a powerful mechanism to redistribute food to those in need. Grocers, companies and farmers are among those participating to realign resources and supporting Canadians with less means, either for the short or longer term. Food banks also have other benefits — they can foster ideas for programs and improve links between themselves and other social agencies. They also offer long-term solutions in re-designing societal approaches to reducing food insecurity and poverty by using volunteers and, most importantly, compassion.”
No sooner had the article been posted than someone commented that food banks are a national disgrace. It’s an old argument, premised on the earlier entry of food banks into community life back in the 1980s. It was an understandable statement back then and shows up occasionally today.
But the reality is that food banks across the country look nothing like they used to. They continue to distribute donated foodstuffs to over one million Canadians every month, but what most of them are adding to those services would have been something unimagined a mere three decades ago.
Yesterday, I spoke to the gathering of Ontario’s food banks at their AGM in Toronto about the various revolutions their 130 operations are assisting in bringing about across the province. I discovered that it's happening everywhere across the country. We learned of how a food bank in Saskatoon worked with clients on their tax returns, successfully turning $10 million back into their pockets. Many food banks in Ontario provide such tax assistance, while others work in strong collaborations for better housing or promote better mental health solutions. Almost every Ontario food bank promotes and supplies other agencies that deal with housing, addictions, unemployment, work training programs, community gardens, pop-up kitchens and culinary training.
Others go even further in their collaboration. There isn’t a month goes by in this province where food banks aren’t present at Queen’s Park, individually or through collective representatives, pressing for better policies like adequate social assistance or affordable housing. Some, like our own in London, have assisted in launching food policy councils in their communities. Some are interested in partnering to initiative poverty research centres as the London Food Bank has.
Where the transformation of food banking has truly shown its presence has been in the movement towards healthy food – not merely for feeding their own clients, but in helping farmers develop better and local crops for populations as a whole. Some food banks have created apps that direct people to sources of fresh fruits and vegetables and are working with universities and colleges on ideas for better access to a vast new array of fresh products, including organic sources.
In London, the food bank works with the Middlesex-London Health Unit by donating over $100,000 for Harvest Bucks – a coupon system that permits hungry families to access fresh food in various markets across the city. And during the Curb Hunger Food Drive last week, the London Food Bank announced its partnership with the City of London and local grocery stores to divert fresh food from area landfills and towards food insecure families. In every way this new “Community Re-Fresh” program is as much an environmental initiative as it is a poverty alleviation exercise. And it's happening everywhere across the province through food bank support, along with other food networks.
The London Food Bank was one of the founding members of Ontario’s food bank network in 1992 (now called Feed Ontario), as well as being a founding food bank in Food Banks Canada three decades ago. Those networks of food banks have become hubs of innovation, addressing multiple aspects of poverty and building community. They have adapted their models to suit the needs of their communities, promote dignity and respect, and work to reduce stigma and stereotypes. Whatever form they have chosen to take, it’s always been in pursuit of the goal of collaborating with post-secondary institutions, other agencies, civic governments, environmental networks, women’s associations, researchers, to name only a few.
What food banks bring to these collaborations are millions of average Canadians, civil society organizations and businesses of all sizes. Their leverage with such populations is significant and food banks are pressing their communities to consider options like working for better housing, basic incomes guarantees, more equitable social assistance, investments in mental health and providing affordable education. Above all, they are serving as fulcrums in their communities to bring food into the centre of community life – not just to tackle poverty but to create healthier communities. Food bank networks are proving pivotal to such efforts.
This is what Professor Charlebois meant when he challenged Canada to become better educated on how food banks are becoming change agents in their own communities. There will be those who will always claim food banks to be a disgrace, but Charlebois presents it more accurately when he defines food banks as, “portals to a community in which wealth is exchanged, redistributed for the sake of equality, democracy and welfare.” His assertion that it is time that “food banks deserve to be demystified” fits with what happening in communities across the country. Food banks are getting on with equitable change and it’s time we all got past our convenient sentiments and joined in the movement to transform those places in which we live through healthy food and collaborative advocacy.