We would like to thank the volunteers from NCI Secured Intelligence for very creatively decorating our shopping carts for the Canada Day Parade in Port Credit during the “Paint the Town Red” event.  Their hard work and creativity was not only appreciated greatly by the staff at The Mississauga Food Bank, but it won us 3^rd Place for the best float!

Carts in the Parade

Cart at booth

NCI Decorators

SOLD OUT!

Hole sponsorships still available – visit www.tmfbgolf.golfreg.com for more information.

We are very excited about our first ever mini-golf tournament that will be taking place on Thursday, August 12th.

We hope to see you there!

The following are facts about hunger in Canada taken from Food Banks Canada.

HUNGER FACTS 2009

How many are being helped by food banks?

- Number of people assisted by a food bank in March 2009:  794,738

- Number helped by food banks for the first time: 72,231 – 9% of the total

- Change in food bank use since 2008: + 18 % – the largest year-over-year increase on record

- Change in food bank use since 1999:  + 10 %

- Number of meals served by food banks in March 2009:  3,252,134

- Number of food banks in Canada:  884 and 2,906 affiliated agencies

- Provinces that experienced the largest increases in use compared to 2008:

- Alberta (+ 61%)
- Nova Scotia (+ 20%)
- Ontario (+ 19%)
- Manitoba (+ 18%)
- British Columbia (+ 15%)
- New Brunswick (+ 14%)

- Number of provinces & territories without a food bank:  0

- Years since Canada’s first food bank opened in Edmonton:  28

Who are food banks helping?

- 37% of those helped are children and youth

- 49% of assisted households are families with children

- 39% are single people

- 12% are couples without children

- 19% of assisted households have income from current or recent employment

- 13% receive disability-related income supports

- 6.3% are on a pension

- 52% receive social assistance benefits

- 87% live in rental accommodations

- 6% own their own home

How are Canadian food banks managing the increase in need?

- 28% of food banks lack adequate funding

- 31% of food banks do not have enough food to meet the need

- 36% of food banks have been forced to give out less food than usual

- 55% bought more food than usual to meet the need

- Nearly half of food banks in Canada have no paid staff

- 23% report difficulty recruiting enough volunteers to manage everyday operations

Mark your calendars for The Mississauga Food Bank Annual Gala celebrating our 25th Anniversary on Thursday, April 14th, 2011.

The location this year will be in the Orion ballroom at the International Centre Conference Centre on Airport Road.

More details will be posted here as they become available.

If you would like to reserve tickets (last year we sold out!), please contact Jennifer Paratholil at 905.270.5589 x222 or jennifer@themississaugafoodbank.org.

Every year, thousands of pounds of residential fruit drops without being harvested as most tree owners can’t – or don’t – use all the fruit produced on their properties. Meanwhile, many people living on low incomes have limited access to fresh fruit, which is vital to a healthy diet.

Mississauga Fruit Tree organizes volunteers to harvest surplus fruit before it falls, and the bounty is shared between the tree owners, volunteers and food banks. This is done on a not-for-profit basis. The food is here in our community growing on the fruit trees in our backyards, but what we need are many helping hands to bring the food to those most in need.

Home owners register their fruit trees and teams of volunteers provide the hands to harvest fruit so that those living on a limited income have fresh fruit to eat.

For more information or to register for this program, please visit www.mississaugafruittree.org.