Thanks to our donors who have dropped in over the Holiday season to make a donation and volunteers who have come in to sort food! We can’t include all of you here, but we do have a few photos to share!

Chabad Jewish Discovery Centre built a CANORAH!

Supperworks brought in 2 full holiday meals!

The Home Depot team came in to sort food and install a new kitchenette!

Frank from Gerdau Ameristeel put his Santa hat on to bring in a donation!

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The “Fill a Cubicle” competition heated up until the early hours of the morning on Tuesday December 21st, as teams scrambled to increase donations in benefit of The Mississauga Food Bank. In the end, an anonymous judge has voted to retain the 10th Floor’s bragging rights with a second consecutive win in the annual event. Nevertheless, the real winners are the families that are to benefit from these generous contributions during this holiday season.

In a spirited effort, the 11th floor raised $1028 in non-perishable food.

The 10th floor raised an impressive $1250 in canned goods.

The donations have yet to be weighed, but stay tuned to find out if we beat last year’s impressive 2,035 pounds.

UPDATE: The donations were weighed, and came in a 2,994 lbs! Congrats to the GE Capital teams!

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The Mississauga Food Bank requests financial support to distribute food to those in need

Mississauga, ON  December 15, 2010

The mission of The Mississauga Food Bank is to fight hunger and feed hope in Mississauga. This is done by supplying food to the city’s seven food banks, plus shelters, breakfast programs, drop in centres and hot meal programs.

This fall The Mississauga Food Bank raised a record amount of food in the Fall Food Drive – over 134,000 lbs – and the food continues to flood in as individuals and corporations across Mississauga show their generosity in feeding their neighbours.

But how much does it cost to distribute this food?

Once the food is donated to The Mississauga Food Bank, what does it take to get it into the hands of those who are hungry?

• A facility to inspect, sort, store and inventory the food
• Trucks to deliver the food
• Staff to manage and implement this whole process, to ensure the food gets to those who need it, as well as administrate, fundraise for, and manage the food bank
• Supplies to package the food
• Efforts to raise awareness and funds for the food bank
• Administration supplies and activities to run the business side of the food bank including phones, internet, computers and office supplies

Chris Hatch, Executive Director of The Mississauga Food Bank, said, “Thank you so much to the community for all your incredible work in donating food to us this Fall – we have enough to feed families through the winter thanks to your generosity.” He went on to say, “We ask residents of Mississauga to feed their hungry neighbours by putting a family they may not know on their holiday shopping list this year.”

As we approach the end of the year, $39,328 is required to support the distribution of food to families in need. The Mississauga Food Bank has set a holiday fundraising goal of $50,000, and as of December 15, had received $10,672.

Donations can be given online at www.themississaugafoodbank.org, or by cheque to 36 – 2550 Goldenridge Road, Mississauga ON L4X 2S3.

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For more information on The Mississauga Food Bank, visit www.themississaugafoodbank.org or contact Meghan Nicholls at 905.270.5589 x226 or meghan@themississaugafoodbank.org.

The Mississauga Food Bank is the largest food distribution program in Mississauga, Ontario supporting over 12,000 clients each month through over 108 member agency programs, including the city’s seven food banks. The Mississauga Food Bank no longer provides food directly to clients, but sources, manages and distributes 2.4 million pounds of food each year valued at over $6 million. The Mississauga Food Bank operates from a 10,000 square foot leased warehouse with eight full-time staff members, many dedicated volunteers (20,000 hours/year), and a fleet of refrigerated delivery trucks.

The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Port Credit Detachment Auxiliary Unit is pleased to announce a successful conclusion to their annual “Cram the Cruiser” Food Drive, which ran from November 20, 2010 until December 12, 2010.

With the generous support of customers, our Auxiliary community volunteers “crammed” more than 50 police cruisers with donated food and collected more than $12,000 in support of The Mississauga Food Bank (www.themississaugafoodbank.org) at participating Mississauga Loblaw, Real Canadian Superstore, and No Frills grocery store locations.

Thanks so much!

Our mission is to fight hunger and feed hope in Mississauga. We do this by supplying food to the city’s seven food banks, plus shelters, breakfast programs, drop in centres and hot meal programs.

This fall we raised a record amount of food in our Fall Food Drive – over 134,000 lbs – and the food just keeps rolling in as individuals and corporations across Mississauga show their generosity in feeding their neighbours. THANK YOU!

But how much does it cost to distribute this food?

Once the food is donated to The Mississauga Food Bank, what does it take to get it into the hands of those who are hungry?

• For start, we need a warehouse to inspect, sort, store and inventory the food. This costs $123,930 each year or $10,327/month.
• Then we need trucks to deliver the food. This costs $23,380 each year, or $1,948/month.
• We also need staff to manage this whole process, to ensure the food gets to those who need it. This requires $236,600 each year, or $19,716/month.
• Supplies are needed to package the food. The cost for this is $3,000/year or $250/month.
• And finally, we need volunteers to help us do all this work – 18,000 hours were donated last year! To manage, encourage and thank these volunteers, it costs $59,150 each year, or $4,929/month.

Thank you so much to the community for all your incredible work in donating food to us this Fall – we have enough to feed families through the winter thanks to your generosity.

Will you now help us fund the distribution of this food to families in need?

Consider making a donation to ensure that the food you’ve donated gets to those who need it.

You can give online, or you can send us a cheque to 36 – 2550 Goldenridge Road, Mississauga ON L4X 2S3.

You may not know the names of the hungry families in Mississauga, but they’ll carry thanks in their hearts for your kindness and generosity.

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We believe that charities should be transparent to their stakeholders: clients, donors, the public at large. It is important for you to be able to see that we are doing what we say we do – fighting hunger and feeding hope.

So feel free to look through the following documents – our Audited financial statements and our Annual Report. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us, we’re always glad to talk!

• To download a copy of our most recent Audited Financial statements, click here.

• To download a copy of our most recent Annual Report, click here.

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The Mississauga Food Bank makes nation-wide ‘Top Picks’ list for charity efficiency and bottom-line results

Mississauga, ON  November 25, 2010

The Mississauga Food Bank is one of 36 Canadian charities named as a “Top Pick” by an organization called Charity Intelligence that evaluates charities across the country based on efficiency, openness, management and bottom-line results. The food bank was one of eight food banks/programs on the list, and among the 22 Ontario charities to make the cut.  The results were revealed last night at a dinner held in Toronto.

“I think it’s a great honour for us to be recognized in these terms,” said Chris Hatch, executive director of The Mississauga Food Bank. He said the designation recognizes the work of the food bank’s staff and volunteers, who contribute so much to the organization. “It’s an opportunity to demonstrate across Canada the hard work we do to feed those who are hungry in our community; many of whom would otherwise go over-looked” he said.

The Charity Intelligence report says The Mississauga Food Bank’s administrative costs are low, its operations are efficient, and it has high levels of support in the community. It was noted that for every dollar donated, $8.41 of food was distributed by The Mississauga Food Bank to its partner agencies and that this was the highest leverage factor of all the food banks evaluated. This is indicative of The Mississauga Food Bank’s ability to move significant volumes with smaller donation dollars. It is The Mississauga Food Drive’s first year as a Charity Intelligence Top Pick.

Reports about The Mississauga Food Bank, and the other Top Picks for 2010, can be found online at www.charityintelligence.ca.

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For more information on The Mississauga Food Bank, visit www.themississaugafoodbank.org or contact Meghan Nicholls at 905.270.5589 x226 or meghan@themississaugafoodbank.org.

For more information on Charity Intelligence, visit www.charityintelligence.ca or contact Teresa Pavlin, Media & PR at t.s.pavlin@gmail.com or 416.363.1555.

November 16, 2010 @ 09:45AM

Ottawa – The results of the HungerCount 2010 survey released today show food banks across Canada helped 867,948 separate individuals in March 2010, an increase of 9.2%, or more than 73,000 people, compared to March 2009. This is 28% higher than in 2008, and is the highest level of food bank use since 1997.

Of the 867,948 people helped in March this year, 80,150 – 9.2% of the total – stepped through the front door of a food bank for the first time. The survey also shows that food bank use grew in every province in 2010.

“This is a reality check. Food banks are seeing first hand that the recession is not over for a large number of Canadians,” said Katharine Schmidt, Executive Director of Food Banks Canada, which coordinated the annual national study.

“We are hearing that it is really tough out there,” Ms. Schmidt said. “Many people who lost their jobs during the recession have now exhausted their unemployment benefits, and are looking to self-employment or to temporary and part-time jobs for income. Others have been forced to fall back on social assistance. These options aren’t paying the bills, and people are accessing food banks to fill the gap.”

As in past years, the profile of those assisted by food banks is highly varied:

* 38% of those assisted by food banks are children and youth under 18 years old.
* Half of assisted households are families with children.
* 17% of households that turn to food banks for help each month are living on income from current or recent employment.
* 7% of assisted households report a pension as their primary source of income.

“Coming to a food bank is not an easy decision for people,” said Bill Hall, Executive Director of the Battlefords and District Food and Resource Centre, in North Battleford, Saskatchewan. “Unfortunately, there continues to be a need for help in our community, and we have expanded our efforts to meet that need – when the overall goal should be to address the causes of hunger more broadly, and to be able to reduce our services and even close our doors for good.”

“Though the recession has made things worse, the causes of hunger and low income run much deeper than the recent economic crisis,” said Ms. Schmidt. “The need for food banks is a result of our failure as a country to adequately address a number of social issues, including a changing job market, a lack of affordable housing and child care, and a social safety net that is ineffective.”

The HungerCount provides recommendations on how the federal government can work to increase people’s ability to be self sufficient. Food Banks Canada’s recommendations include the following:

* Implement a national poverty prevention and reduction strategy, with measurable targets and timelines.
* Create a federal housing strategy to increase and monitor investment in affordable housing programs in Canada’s cities, towns and rural areas.
* Maintain current levels of federal cash and tax transfers to provincial, territorial, and First Nations governments.
* Address the unacceptable rates of low income among our most vulnerable seniors – those who live alone, without other means of support.

About the HungerCount Survey

HungerCount was initiated in 1989 and is the only comprehensive national study of food banks and affiliated food programs in Canada. Since 1997, data for the study have been collected every March. The information provided by the survey is invaluable, forming the basis of many Food Banks Canada activities throughout the year. For a full copy of the HungerCount 2010 report and associated graphics, and for more information, please visit www.foodbankscanada.ca.

To read the entire report, please visit www.foodbankscanada.ca/documents/HungerCount2010_web.pdf.

Charity Intelligence (Ci) Canada is a non-profit organization that researches and analyzes Canada’s charities to enable funders to make informed and effective giving decisions that reward charities for their results. Ci has announced that The Mississauga Food Bank is a Ci Recommended Charity for 2010!

In their notification to us, Ci said:

“After rigorous and independent analysis including due diligence, assessment of transparency and accountability, cost efficiency, and charity results, and undergoing a Recommendation Committee review, Charity Intelligence Canada (Ci) has concluded its analysis of Canadian charities for 2010. We would like to thank your organization for participating in this analysis. Ci has made the final selection of recommended Canadian charities delivering top results for Canadians in need. The top picks were selected from an initial pool of over 200 charity contacts. Ci is most pleased to announce the recommendation of The Mississauga Food Bank as a Ci Recommended Charity 2010. The Mississauga Food Bank excels in addressing a social issue, is cost efficient, and most importantly, has a track record of producing outstanding results for Canadians in need.”

Ci’s list of Recommended Charities for 2010 was released publicly in late October.  Ci will print and distribute, across Canada, copies of our findings, create postings on our website, address the media, and provide us with the electronic copies of our organization’s fact sheets.

The purpose of Ci is to get as much money to the Recommended Charities as possible. This is accomplished through private client services, contacting friends, their national and global network, funders, and discussing the work of Recommended Charities. Their goal is to flow donations to charities that excel in delivering services to Canadians in need so that giving can have impact. Ci does this on a best-efforts basis and hopes to continue to significantly increase the amount of money directed towards the Recommended Charities.

We at The Mississauga Food Bank are THRILLED to have received this distinction, and look forward to developing a relationship with Charity Intelligence further.

Click here to read the Charity Intelligence report on The Mississauga Food Bank.

Nikki Sandhu (Manager of Volunteer Programs) completed her six-month contract with The Mississauga Food Bank on Friday October 29th.  She did not have much of a break since next week she assumes a new role as Volunteer Coordinator at the Volunteer Centre of Guelph-Wellington. During the past six months, Nikki has realigned our volunteer programs with our new hub & spoke structure and has implemented our new on-line volunteer management system (Volunteer Impact).  We extend our heartfelt thanks and appreciation for all of Nikki’s hard work and dedication and wish her continued success.

We are also pleased to announce that Robin Harding will be joining the The Mississauga Food Bank on Monday November 1^st as our full-time Manager of Volunteer Resources.  Robin has an extensive background in volunteer and human resource management and most recently was Manager Human Resources at The Ottawa Mission.  Robin has worked for United Way/Centreaide Ottawa and Stikeman Elliott LLP, Toronto where she developed their volunteer, community outreach, and human resource programs.  Robin has also been a very active volunteer with Girl Guides Canada and the Red Cross. She holds a BA from University of Western Ontario , and MBA from the University of Phoenix, and a Graduate Certificate in Human Resources Management. You can reach her at robin@themississaugafoodbank.org if you’d like to say hello. Welcome Robin!