What can we say, except — WOW. CBC’s Make the Season Kind campaign— formerly Sounds of the Season — raised an incredible $1,050,407 for local food banks this past December, with the final mailed-in donations still to be counted. With food bank usage at historically high levels, we need this support more than ever. Thank you all for truly making the season kind!
The biggest highlight of the campaign was December 6’s live programming of Metro Morning and Here and Now at CBC’s Glenn Gould Studio. During each show, hosts David Common and Ramraajh Sharvendiran interviewed food bank clients, organizers, and researchers to raise awareness of Toronto’s hunger crisis.
“I think that a lot of times there’s a particular persona or image of people that we think are the ones that use the food bank, but I’m here to say that it could be anyone, it could be any one of us that have to use those resources,” said Safiya Airall, a Daily Bread food bank client. “To know that it’s available is such a blessing, to be quite honest.”
The radio hosts also spoke with many food/funds drive organizers and donors, who shared their stories as to what inspired them to take action.
Particularly memorable was Imani Browne, an 8-year-old girl who has run a holiday food drive with her mom for three years running. “It’s good to give back because, I have a lot of food. And mostly I think everyone has a lot of food here. Am I right?” she said, as the crowd laughed loudly. “So, some people don’t have food, so it’s good to just donate just some of your food because you still have food left, and you still have food to give.”
In between, artists like The Free Label, AHI, Anjulie, William Prince, Zenesoul, Peter Dreams and Katie Tupper serenaded the live audience and those listening at home.
Also during the show, our CEO, Neil Hetherington, said a special thank you to five banks — BMO, CIBC, RBC Foundation, Scotiabank and TD — for their generous donation of $30,000 each. As part of their contribution to Make the Season Kind, all five banks sent teams to Daily Bread on December 13 for a special food-sorting challenge. In total, they sorted 19,723 lbs in just two hours.
Throughout the holiday season, elementary students around the province learned about food insecurity through this year’s Make the Season Kind School Challenge, which was a set of lesson plans for kids in Grades 1-8 and an accompanying culminating project that teachers could submit to a team of evaluators. Stay tuned for the results of the Challenge to be announced on January 20.
We’re deeply grateful for your rallying efforts to make the season kind! As food bank usage continues to rise — with more than 1 in 10 Torontonians now turning to food banks — we thank you for your support. You helped show that together, we can make a difference for our neighbours facing food insecurity.
While the holiday season is over, hunger doesn’t stop. To help provide emergency food services to neighbours in need, please consider a donation today.
