Here at The Mississauga Food Bank we are very proud to be a member of the Ontario Association of Food Banks (OAFB). Committed to ending hunger in Ontario, they work with food banks across the province providing food, funding and solutions.

One of these solutions is Community Harvest Ontario, whose goal is to provide a greater volume of fresh, healthy, local foods to Ontarians who are forced to turn to food banks.

Community Harvest Ontario engages farmers and volunteers in solutions to end hunger.  It works across the province with farmers in three ways:

• GROW Engage farmers in growing projects where a portion of the farm land or crop is earmarked for donation to the local food bank.
• GLEAN Connect volunteer groups with “Pick Your Own” farms that have edible food remaining on the fields after the harvest season.  Volunteers pick the remaining food, a process known as gleaning, and this food is picked up by the local food bank for distribution to local families facing hunger.
• DONATE Access edible surplus produce that would otherwise be tilled back into the soil or disposed.  These perfectly healthy, delicious, and fresh fruits and vegetables can not be sold in the traditional markets due to cosmetic reasons such as shape, colour, or size

If you think this is as great of an idea as we do, check out www.communityharvest.ca.