Welcome to a Community Impact Story

Lives touched…feeding Burlington’s hungry
 

Going to bed hungry is not what you expect in a city that MoneySense magazine ranks #2 of the 25 Best Places to Live in Canada for 2012. Recognizing local families in need, resident George Bagaco started redistributing baked goods in 1995, an inspired idea that grew into Food for Life Canada, Halton Region’s largest food recovery program. Today, Food For Life delivers surplus food from restaurants, grocery stores and the corporate food sector to more than 40 social service agencies and 36 local outreach programs.

According to Charlotte Redekop-Young, Executive Director, Food for Life, “In 2008, Burlington Community Foundation was instrumental in providing a grant for the first refrigerated vehicle. This grant allowed Food for Life to establish the ReFresh Foods program, the first food collection and distribution hub to run a hybrid diesel/electric truck to safely transport perishable and frozen foods.”

ReFresh Foods delivers healthy and nutritious items–including fruits, vegetables and baked goods–not typically found in traditional food banks. Most recently, a 2011 Foundation grant supported driver and fuel costs as well as upgraded a walk-in chiller at the charity’s 6,000-square-foot Burlington warehouse. Charlotte advises, “The new unit provides efficient refrigeration for food safety, performs better, uses less energy and costs less to operate.”
 

A group of volunteers prepares food for Burlington residents

According to a Food for Life feasibility study, an estimated 31,000 Halton residents need access to emergency food. People who are committed to ensuring that good food does not go to waste are at the heart of Food for Life. In 2010-11, more than 1,000,000 pounds of donated nutritious food–with a retail value of over $4 million–was redistributed to those in need. Touching hundreds of Burlingtonian lives each and every day, this local food recovery program is delivering on George’s vision that “No man, woman or child should have to go to bed hungry while stores, restaurants and other food suppliers are tossing food in our landfills.”

Give now by visiting Canada Helps. If you need assistance please contact Laura Pizzacalla at 905 639 0744 x221 or lpizzacalla@burlingtonfoundation.org. Discover our more than 60 funds created by local donors & fundholders or agencies.