Spadina Fort York Community Care (SPAFYCC) is one of Daily Bread Food Bank’s newest member agencies. Their mission is to bring hope, dignity, humanity and care, while providing individuals in need with meals, groceries, and hygiene and supply kits.
SPAFYCC started in March 2020 as part of a collaboration with Portland Place, which at the time had to cease operation of their congregate dining program due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At around the same time, a growing number of individuals living in encampments were also facing mounting challenges and state of crisis due to shutting down of local drop-in programs and services.
Shauna Harris is the Executive Director at SPAFYCC and took immediate action to address the needs she was seeing in the community. Together with her team, they started delivering food hampers to residents of Portland Place twice per week, and food and hygiene and supply kits to encampment residents and other street-involved individuals.
The team at SPAFYCC also identified that many seniors and individuals living with disabilities were facing challenges with food access at the height of the pandemic. Many were dealing with health issues and were unable to leave their homes to pick up necessities, and many were unable to afford traditional home delivery programs. Through the home delivery program, these individuals were able to access the essentials they needed. SPAFYCC serves a large population of Chinese seniors, many of whom have faced discrimination and isolation.
Today, Shauna and the team at SPAFYCC are running two pop-up food banks in Alexandra Park and St. Lawrence Market. Their busy delivery service provides outreach to more than 700 unhoused individuals in the downtown core. It is their hope that they will be able to continue to expand their service to reach even more people in need of support.
We are very excited to welcome Spadina Fort York Community Care (SPAFYCC) to the Daily Bread network and look forward to working together to support our communities!
Click here to learn more about our agency network throughout the city.
