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York Region Food Bank home delivery program extended

Federal funding of nearly $50,000 will support the program to March 31, 2021
2020 07 30 Food Bank of York Region delivery
The Food Bank of York Region's pandemic emergency food home delivery program is being extended until next March with funding from the federal government's Emergency Community Support Fund. Supplied photo/FBYR

NEWS RELEASE
FOOD BANK OF YORK REGION
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United Way Greater Toronto accepted a proposal from the Food Bank of York Region for $49,785 to extend its home delivery program from Oct. 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021. United Way’s allocation of funding for this project comes directly from the federal government's Emergency Community Support Fund (ECSF).

The home delivery program operated by the FBYR began on May 4 in response to the COVID-19 state of emergency declared by the Ford government on March 17. The program was initially funded by United Way’s Local Love Fund and expected to run to June 30. However, with the continued extensions of the state of emergency, the FBYR decided to continue the successful program and applied for more funding to financially support this initiative.

“What has surfaced over the last few months, across the GTA and across York Region, is that COVID-19 has exacerbated and deepened the fault lines of inequality everywhere. That’s why it’s so important to support individuals who are struggling. The Food Bank of York Region is one example of getting dollars to where the need is greatest so that residents can get the local help they need,” said Daniele Zanotti, president and CEO, United Way Greater Toronto.

United Way processed over $14 million in application requests for the Emergency Community Support Fund. For the FBYR to be considered, the home delivery program had to be eligible as an initiative that addressed a pressing social inclusion or well-being need caused by COVID-19; and serve one or more vulnerable populations. FBYR’s home delivery program easily met those criteria and was selected from 278 applicants.

“We definitely anticipated the need for this program after consulting with our municipalities, community partners and the challenges they faced due to the pandemic”, explains Alex Bilotta, founder and CEO of the Food Bank of York Region.

“But we didn’t know how long the need for this service we provided would last. After almost three months into starting our home delivery initiative, I can confidently say that the support of food security and our program that delivers right to the homes of York Region residents was needed. With everyone being affected by COVID-19 in one way or another, we were affected most by the outpouring need of residents experiencing hunger due to the changes and challenges presented in these unprecedented times. We are here to make sure that anyone who applies for our emergency food support and is eligible, will receive a home delivery.”

In 2019, 24,000 unique individuals accessed food from an FBYR community partner throughout York Region. In the first six months of 2020, 17,756 unique individuals accessed a program from a community partner with over 2,000 of these unique individuals accessing the home delivery program in May-June.

To be eligible for the FBYR’s home delivery program, an applicant must be a resident of York Region, and not belong to a social housing co-operative home that already has an established food program partnership with the FBYR. Applicants can apply for emergency food home delivery on FBYR’s website here.

Once the application is received, it will be processed within 72 hours on a first-come, first-serve basis, and the order will be packed by the FBYR volunteers and loaded onto a truck and scheduled for delivery. Applicants will receive a call 20 minutes prior to delivery from the driver, if there is no response the driver will leave the food outside of their home. Applicants are encouraged to apply once a week, starting from the day they received their last home delivery.

We do ask for patience and understanding as we are receiving a large amount of applications and can only complete a certain amount of deliveries per day. To also keep in mind that we are not open on the weekends, and the program is heavily reliant on the support of our dedicated volunteers.

About the Food Bank of York Region:

The FBYR is a regional food bank serving the nine municipalities of York Region (Vaughan, Richmond Hill, Markham, Whitchurch-Stouffville, Newmarket, Aurora, East Gwillimbury, Georgina, and King). We source, collect, warehouse, and deliver surplus fresh, frozen, and non-perishable food donations for the 76+ local front-line community service agencies we support within our network. We also run a home delivery program for residents of York Region experiencing hunger and food insecurity. For more information about the FBYR, ways to donate or get involved, please visit www.fbyr.ca and follow us on social media.