"Food for Life" receives CN Charity or Not-For-Profit Excellence Award

"We went from rescuing and giving out food to rescuing and giving out food with purpose," answered Graham Hill during a Q&A with Oakville News.

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Executive Director Graham Hill, who made the change from Food Banks Canada in 2018 to work with Food for Life, shares, "I really liked the purpose and the mission; using rescued surplus food as an economic lever to help people."

The Oakville Chamber of Commerce unanimously assigned the 2022 CN Charity or Not-for-Profit Excellence Award to Food for Life.

Eligibility factors for the award include: a charity or not-for-profit organization which is highly regarded in the community, raises funds or provides services to improve the lives of people within the community, and must also make a substantial contribution to the social well-being of Oakville.

After extensive review the OCC concluded that, "Food For Life has developed innovative ways for families, individuals and seniors to access good food through their 100+ programs and community partners."

"By rescuing good surplus food from the supply chain, Food For Life minimizes food waste, ensuring their work has a positive impact on both people and the planet.”"

Food for Life is qualification-free, with no proof of income required. There can be no exclusion for those who exceed a specific income either.

Hill clarifies, "We’re working from a place of trust that those utilizing our service really need it. We’re here; we’re open."

Q & A with Graham Hill

Q: How does the inflationary impact of the rising cost of food for your suppliers affect your ability to serve the community?

As the cost of food rises, supply chain issues around food act in our favour. People are spending less on food, and then there is more surplus food available. Crops are already planted. Food has been produced, and grocery chains place orders ongoing. There is no shortage for the foreseeable future until drastic recessionary streamlining begins.

Q: What impact did COVID-19 have on the program?

We, of course, saw an increase in demand during the pandemic due to people being confined at home because of medical or mobility issues. Then the loss of jobs added to an already existing problem.

Now that we are coming out of COVID, we’re seeing some levelling off. People are working, not making enough to make ends meet, and utilizing more than one program in order to meet monthly expenses.

Q: Is there an incentive by way of tax breaks for suppliers who donate their food?

More restaurants, growers and wholesalers are getting involved. There is a tax break for farmers and producers that donate agricultural products. The Ontario Farmer’s Tax Credit has been in effect since 2013. 

As a company donating a produced product, there’s no tax receipt. For companies, donating mitigates waste management costs, and it helps the community.

Q: What is done with food that isn’t consumed in time?

Whatever portion of food that comes in and is inedible, we compost, diverting it from landfill and saving millions of kilograms of greenhouse gas from going into the environment.

We initiated and installed a Compost Program in 2019, the only one of its kind at a food charity in Canada. In 2021 Food for Life was invited by Impact Canada to be part of the Canada Food Waste Reduction Challenge. We organized Compost Giveaway Days. Thousands of pounds of waste every week of inedible food is put into a composter that will not make its way into landfill.

Q: With so many qualified and charitable groups in Oakville, what single most important function or act do you believe set Food for Life apart this year?

As the largest single food provider in every municipality of Halton and Hamilton in the charitable food sector, we’ve been doing what we do quietly. More recently we stepped into the leadership role and the award recognizes that. 

During the pandemic, when a lot of food programs had to close, we pivoted in two days and made our program available to a lot of individuals no longer supported by those initiatives. We launched a home delivery plan of action for the most vulnerable that couldn’t get out to access food.

In only two and a half months we increased our operation space from 5,000 sq ft to 13,000 sq ft and our cold storage space from 1,200 sq ft to 8,500 sq ft.

We were able to serve more people in more places during that period of time, with a different and complete service model. We have sent food, when needed, as far north to the Northern Territories, west to Nanaimo, BC, and east to Nova Scotia.

Now supporting more than 100 food programs. Our team worked hard and made a difference. I believe that the award was well earned on merit.

Q: Are Food for Life staff paid, or are they volunteers?

Our efforts to rescue food have grown from 3,000,000,000 pounds of food in 2018 to 5,000,000,000 last year, and this year approaching 6,000,000,000.

Our staff has increased from eight members in 2018 to 22 now, in order to meet the needs of the community. All 22 are paid, and I am proud that we are part of the Ontario Living Wage Network as a certified Living Wage employer. 

Q: Is your organization government funded?

Actually, 15 per cent of operational money comes from core funders, with multi-year agreements like the Sprott Foundation, Halton Region, and United Way of Halton and Hamilton. We’re also grateful for the support from: the Peter Gilgan Foundation, the Gold Family of Oakville whose donations are dedicated primarily to research, and the Hadley Family Foundation from Milton’s funding for mission work and more. The balance is from caring individuals and companies.

Q: Are there new initiatives that you’d like to share?

In our ongoing efforts to serve the community, we recently launched the Mountainside Market.

With a pre-booked appointment time, people can come in and shop at our market to pick up the food that they need.

Our open Community Fridges, found in libraries and community centres, are accessible again. We have an upcoming partnership with Kerr Street Mission and the Burlington Food Bank.

We got the Board to commit to thorough compensation surveys. We want to make change and we want to help reduce the number of people living in poverty.

For the last several years, our organization has received the Charity Intelligence Award as a top 100 charity which looks for milestone impacts of what we're doing and how we’re doing it. It’s amazing to be recognized.

In our program, $10 can actually give an individual more than $60 in food – that’s our economic lever. Check the Food for Life website for more information on how you can donate or volunteer.

The opportunity to give back locally and have that systemic change is really important to me. We went from rescuing and giving out food to rescuing and giving out food with purpose.