FoodShare Toronto

We have an exciting vermicomposting workshop coming up this month! Join us for an interactive look at creating and managing a vermicompost system from bedding to feeding to harvesting. You'll also learn all about the life cycle of worms, composting techniques and how to apply worm castings to your plants. Date: Thursday, October 24, 2024 Time: 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm ET Location: FoodShare Toronto, 120 Industry St., Unit C This in-person workshop is open to all, with a focus on educators. Plus, up to ten educators can receive a free worm bin to manage throughout the school year! Sign up: foodshare.net/vermicompost #TOcomposts City of Toronto

Farewell to our summer youth staff 💚 As we reminisce this summer past we wanted to take a moment to express our gratitude to all the youth who joined us this summer to support the work of FoodShare and our partners across the city. Their dedication and enthusiasm have been so appreciated by all. Huge thank you to Hamna and Anas who supported our Supportive Partnerships Platform program, to Shamla, Jaydon (volunteer), Donald and Cristal who supported Flemo Farm, and to all the other youth who supported our programs this summer. We hope our paths cross again someday!

Learn more about our Group Workshops ✨⬇️ In partnership with Care/Of Experiences, these workshops offer a part team-building experience and part anti-oppression training and are open to any and all kinds of groups — whether you are in the private, public or non-profit sector, or even a group of community members who want to learn about food justice while cooking up a delicious dish. In our Body-(Liberation) Building workshop, we'll examine how weight stigma and fatphobia shape our relationships with food. Guided conversations about intersectionality will help your team understand what white supremacy, transphobia, and ableism have to do with body policing – encouraging participants to consider their own biases and assumptions about people’s bodies and food choices. While we talk about why all bodies are worthy and have the right to exist as they are, you’ll be guided step-by-step through baking some sweet treats that you can share with your loved ones – or keep for yourself! There are two other workshops in the series — choose one or take them all. Learn about all the workshops and register your group at https://lnkd.in/gydZruY2.

We're excited to be partnering with our friends at VentureKids 📦🎉 We’re thrilled to be collaborating with our long-standing partner VentureKids, who we work alongside to distribute fresh produce to families of young folks in their science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) learning and mentorship programs. Together, we’ve been using this back-to-school season to raise awareness of household food insecurity and how much easier it is to learn when you’re nourished, and funds to support both of our organizations. When you purchase a limited-time-only VentureKids x FoodShare Produce Box you’ll be making a contribution to food security and learning programs that set young folks and their families up for success, AND you’ll have a delicious selection of fresh fruits and vegetables delivered straight to your door. For our former Good Food Box customers who’ve been missing that ‘Food is a right’ box hitting your doorsteps here’s a chance to get back in on the action and support families across Toronto. Orders close Friday, October 4th at 4:30pm for delivery next week (unless demand is just so great we have to extend this campaign….. * hint hint *). Check the website for the delivery map and enter your postal code at checkout to find out what day you'll receive your box. Get your VentureKids x FoodShare Produce Box now at venturekids.foodshare.net 💚

This Monday, September 30th is National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. We recognize that reconciliation isn’t one day of wearing an orange t-shirt, but an ongoing, daily process of decolonization and re-Indigenization. Together with folks from our Indigenous Advisory Circle, FoodShare’s Indigenous Action Coordinator, Shar-Dey Phipps-Walker, thoughtfully curated a list of resources for settlers and non-Indigenous folks to read, watch and listen to, as well as actions to take in support of Indigenous communities. The list was created last year, but we’ve made some updates for 2024. Find the full list with links at https://lnkd.in/gFR_uzqW Please share this resource widely, and return to it frequently, as these actions can (and should) be taken any day of the year. And feel free to share any other events going on in and around Toronto in recognition of Truth and Reconciliation, or other resources, in the comments below.

Have you heard the latest episode of our podcast, Dignity and Joy? 🎧 This conversation came fresh off the drop of a United Nations report denouncing Canada’s temporary foreign worker program as a “breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery," something our guest Gabriel Allahdua and his colleagues have been calling out for years. On the episode, Gabriel shares his story as a migrant farm worker in Canada, and emphasizes the importance of demanding better for the workers who make it possible to put food on our tables. Listen to Harvesting freedom: The fight for migrant farm worker rights with Gabriel Allahdua on Spotify at https://lnkd.in/geGp-Myr or wherever you get your podcasts. Peruse all our episodes + transcripts at foodshare.net/podcast. And be sure to check out Gabriel's book, Harvesting Freedom: The Life of a Migrant Worker in Canada.

Did you know that the highest percentage of people living in food-insecure households in this country are Black at 39.2%, followed by Indigenous at 33.4%? At FoodShare, we know that leaders from communities most impacted by food insecurity know best how to support their communities and improve food access. That’s why we are committed to sharing our resources and funds with grassroots groups doing the work on the ground. We’re proud to be able to support folks like the Indigenous Seniors Helping Seniors group in the Annex, who run a bi-weekly on-site pantry where residents like Shirlie (pictured here) can connect with their neighbours over coffee and snacks, and shop for their groceries with dignity. At our recent visit, Shirlie shared her passion for poetry while she perused the fruits, veggies, dry goods and hygiene products available, and even shared an original rap with us! (Plug for Shirlie’s book, 𝓒𝓸𝓵𝓵𝓮𝓬𝓽𝓲𝓿𝓮 𝓜𝓸𝓸𝓭𝓼). She also shared her appreciation for the volunteers who run the pantry, who make it that much easier to get her weekly shopping done. Our chat with Shirlie reminded us that doing work to advance food justice is about so much more than increasing food access. It’s about community care and connection. When you redistribute your dollars by making a donation to FoodShare, you are supporting initiatives like these that are driven by community leaders and guided by local residents. If you can, please make a donation today to support our Indigenous Community Action work and other crucial community programming at foodshare.net/donate-now. Thank you so much for your support 💚

September 30th is National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. We recognize that reconciliation isn’t one day of wearing an orange t-shirt, but an ongoing, daily process of decolonization and re-Indigenization. Together with folks from our Indigenous Advisory Circle, FoodShare’s Indigenous Action Coordinator, Shar-Dey Phipps-Walker, thoughtfully curated a list of resources for settlers and non-Indigenous folks to read, watch and listen to, as well as actions to take in support of Indigenous communities. The list was created last year, but we’ve made some updates for 2024. Find the full list with links at https://lnkd.in/gFR_uzqW Please share this resource widely, and return to it frequently, as these actions can (and should) be taken any day of the year. And feel free to share any other events going on in and around Toronto in recognition of Truth and Reconciliation, or other resources, in the comments below.

We're celebrating Toronto's Urban Agriculture Week from September 14-22 🌱🎉 Huge shoutout to our Community Food Growing team who collaborates with folks across the city on urban agriculture initiatives like Flemo Farm, School Grown at Burnhamthorpe Collegiate Institute, the Sunshine Garden at CAMH, local community gardens and various composting initiatives. Let's keep celebrating all week long! For a list of the week's remaining events, visit https://lnkd.in/dhQH-fRY. And read more about our Community Food Growing team's work on our website at https://lnkd.in/dJ9NNzgy. #iGrowTO #UAWeek

New pod episode! Harvesting freedom: The fight for migrant farm worker rights ✊ For our first-ever in-person recording of Dignity and Joy, migrant rights activist Gabriel Allahdua sits down in the studio with host Sheldomar Elliott to discuss migrant worker rights in the context of Canada’s deeply flawed approach to staffing the agriculture sector. Gabriel shares the ups and downs of his relationship with this country as an immigrant and former migrant agricultural worker. The conversation came fresh off the drop of a United Nations report denouncing Canada’s temporary foreign worker program as a “breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery” and citing wage theft, excessive work hours and physical abuse among the conditions migrants are forced to endure. Gabriel makes clear that while this isn’t news to him and his comrades who have long been advocating against the abuses toward migrant workers, it is crucial that we continue increasing awareness and ending the silence around the harms caused by the agriculture industry in Canada, and demand better for the workers who make it possible to put food on our tables. Listen to the full episode on Spotify at the link below, or wherever you get your podcasts 🎧 Also be sure to check out Gabriel's book, Harvesting Freedom: The Life of a Migrant Worker in Canada. https://lnkd.in/geGp-Myr