A service that provides free rides to food banks and community meals in Newmarket and elsewhere throughout York Region may be grounded if it doesn’t raise the money it needs to keep going.
The Ride to Food program, operated by the regionwide not-for-profit organization Routes Connecting Communities, lost some regional funding for 2020.
The three-decades long compassionate transportation enterprise has to raise $30,000 to help fund the Ride to Food service, specifically.
Over the past 10 months alone, volunteer drivers have provided 2,500 fully subsidized trips to more than 550 residents to community dinners and food banks in Newmarket, Aurora, Georgina and Whitchurch-Stouffville.
“Without new funds, we can’t continue with this program,” Routes executive director Danielle Koren said. “Luckily, Magna International is stepping up as a sponsor, but we need more sponsors to keep it up.”
Demand for the service has risen by as much as 40 per cent since its launch three years ago, said Koren.
“A lot of the churches offer free community meals every night of the week,” she said. “It’s absolutely great that they are doing that, and the people who are using that don’t always have the means to get there.”
Accessing food banks presents challenges to many people, as well.
“When you go to the food pantry, you have many grocery bags to carry, so public transit is not the greatest, and it also costs money,” Koren said. “For a lot of people, even a $4 fare on York Regional Transit is too much. I mean, we’re talking about the people who are really living in poverty.”
Newmarket mom Ashley Jones, who is raising her two children, Nevaeh, 9, and Jayden, 6, on her own, said the rides to the Newmarket Food Pantry are invaluable to her. She also uses the service to get to appointments for herself and her children.
“When I lived in Keswick, they’d always help me out with rides to the food bank in Sutton,” she said. “They help to go get Christmas baskets, as well. I want more people to know about this. There’s a lot of parents out there who do struggle.”
Jones was born and raised in Keswick but recently moved to Newmarket, where the family, which includes her own mother, have settled into a house in a neighbourhood near Yonge Street and Davis Drive.
She has met other single parents who are struggling to make ends meet, including a mom with two boys who also just relocated to Newmarket.
“I told her about Routes, and she didn’t know about it,” Jones said. “It’s tough to take transit around.”
Routes’ 40 drivers are all volunteers, use their own vehicles, and get paid for their mileage.
Every second Tuesday of the month, volunteer drivers pick up about 50 local residents from their homes and take them to the Newmarket Food Pantry.
There is an urgent need for more volunteer drivers, as well, Koren said, particularly for Newmarket, Aurora, and Whitchurch-Stouffville.
For more information on Routes, to volunteer, become a sponsor or make a donation, visit here.
Fast facts about Routes:
- Celebrated 30 years in York Region on Nov. 22, 2019
- Across Canada, one in eight households have experienced food insecurity within the past 12 months (2019 Hunger Count Report, Food Banks of Canada). Routes estimates that 15 per cent of these households do not have the means to get to a food bank or a community meal program to receive support;
- Routes provided more than 2,500 fully subsidized trips for more than 550 people to attend community dinners and to access food banks in Aurora, Georgina, Newmarket, and Whitchurch-Stouffville over the last 10 months;
- Routes aims to take away the stress for many clients who would not otherwise been able to access community dinners and food pantries. Its service demonstrates the community can be inclusive, with no one feeling excluded for any reason;
- The Newmarket Food Pantry opens every second Tuesday of the month only for its clients. On an average Tuesday, upward of 50 clients get rides to and from the food bank;
- When you have four kids and are eligible for food for three days at the pantry, don’t drive, or don’t have a car, don’t have family and friends nearby, you are stuck. Mostly public transit is not an option with all the bags with food, if you have the money for it;
- Routes enhances the quality of life for York Region residents struggling with transportation disadvantages by providing volunteer-based transportation to seniors, individuals living with a disability, and residents struggling with food insecurity. In addition to supporting individuals accessing local food pantries, the clientele includes collaborative partnerships with other not-for-profit agencies such as 360°Kids, AIDS Committee of York Region, Rose of Sharon Services for Young Mothers, and Sandgate Women’s Shelter, whose clients are not able to access community services that could help them build a more resilient future;
- Over the upcoming years, it is anticipated that the transportation services Routes provides will become increasingly vital to the growing York Region population, especially those living rurally where alternative modes of transportation are inefficient or non-existent;
- Volunteers get reimbursed for their mileage and we work with their preferences and;
- Various sponsor packages are offered.
