Stop Food Waste Day, recognized on April 24, 2024, is the largest single day of action dedicated to preventing global food waste.
Did you know that 33% of all food produced globally is lost or wasted each year? In fact, a quarter of the food wasted globally could feed the 795 million undernourished people across the globe.
As an organization dedicated to facilitating food access for those experiencing hunger, Daily Bread Food Bank collaborates with a variety of partners to help divert produce and food items that would otherwise end up in landfills. With one in ten Torontonians now relying on food banks, we’re proud to work with partners who support our mission.
Metro Ontario is one of these partners through their One More Bite program, which ensures that unsold food is recovered by more than 68 food banks across Ontario. Since the program started, it has helped provide over 2 million pounds of fresh and nutritious food to families and individuals facing hunger.
As part of the program, Daily Bread partners with more than 20 stores across the Greater Toronto Area, who have helped save over 360,046 pounds of food, including nutrient-dense and protein-rich foods such as meat, fish and dairy. The savings from these impactful donations allow us to put our purchasing power towards other highly requested food items for our clients.
Metro Store #719 is run by John Crisafulli, who is the driving force behind the location’s One More Bite program. All departments begin each day by scanning items approaching expiration or those with blemishes or flaws. They’re picked out and further discounted. If, by the next day, items are unsold, they are then pulled off the shelves, frozen and donated to local food banks, like Daily Bread.
Adriano, one of the location’s department managers, would access food banks with his mother while he was growing up, and he’s happy to take these additional steps that mean items can be donated instead of thrown away.
To date, their store has recovered over 50,000 pounds of food. In addition, the team helped us in laying a foundation for this program that was then implemented in other stores.
We’re grateful to have partnerships that provide consistent donations that enable us to support the tens of thousands of clients we serve.
Click here if you would like to support neighbours in need through a corporate food donation.
If you would like to learn more, please reach out to Rapisna Ravichandran, Development Officer, Corporate Partnerships (Food), at [email protected]
