While FeedHalton only moved into its 11,000-square-foot warehouse last month, it has already been very busy working to fill shelves with products for food banks around the region.
“This is going to be a game changer for Halton,” said Burlington Councillor Angelo Bentivegna. “The way we distribute products to other agencies within the region is so important to maximize the efficiency of all the individual operations that try to do the best they can.”
The Burlington facility’s shelves are stocked with blank silver cans of tomato sauce, pasta, and other foods that will keep for a while yet. A handful of volunteers from organizations such as the Lions Club were recently on site to help organize and properly label the foods.
It was critical that each can be inspected before being sent off to be stocked at food banks, however. Many of the cans are donated with dents or dings that aren’t necessarily pretty, but as long as the edges aren’t sharp and the cans remain clean, they are still safe to eat.
“If this is on the shelf in somebody’s pantry, it looks like a product that you picked up at a grocery store, not just a silver tin can with ingredients on top,” FeedHalton executive director Robin Bailey said. “We wanted to make sure that dignity goes along with it.”
Bailey added 25 cases of pasta sauce were recently moved to both Acton and Georgetown in an effort to ensure the entire region of Halton is covered, not just Burlington and Oakville.
Although there is food being sent around to the municipalities, Bailey clarified FeedHalton's facility is not a food bank itself.
“We’re not serving any individuals directly out of this space, it is strictly for serving out to agencies, to make sure that when you hear in the news that small agencies are struggling and not able to keep their doors open, we’re built to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Bailey said. “We did a lot of work researching North York Harvest, Food Banks Mississauga, and the Food Bank of Waterloo Region to learn about their programs and how they do it.”
For more information on FeedHalton, and to get involved with the organization, visit the FeedHalton site.
