Community Knowledge Centre - Toronto Community Foundation

About this organization

Mission

The Stop Community Food Centre strives to increase access to healthy food in a manner that maintains dignity, builds community and challenges inequality.

History of Organization

The Stop began as one of the nation’s first food banks almost 30 years ago, growing out of the ministry of Reverend Cam Russell at St. Stephen-in-the-Fields Parish. In 1982, The Stop was officially incorporated as a non-profit organization. Since that time, The Stop has carried out its anti-hunger work in a number of locations, and since 1995 has been at its current home of 1884 Davenport Rd. Initially functioning as a conventional food bank, The Stop has gradually broadened its mission as its philosophy matured and resources expanded—first into the realm of advocacy for better social policy on poverty issues, then into food and community development programming that aims to break down social isolation and build food skills and engagement programs that encourage community members to get involved in the issues that affect them. Most recently, the 2009 opening of The Green Barn propelled The Stop into a new phase of its organizational life, expanding the environmental and educational side of our work. Altogether, this multifaceted, multi-layered approach to food and hunger is breaking new ground, demonstrating the potential of a new type of grassroots institution to promote individual and community health and contribute to building a just and sustainable food system.

Accolades and Accomplishments

• As one of the first food banks in Canada, the creator of the Healthy Beginnings perinatal program, as well as the country’s first community food centre, The Stop has always been on the forefront of developing responses to poverty and hunger.
• We have welcomed visitors from across the city and around the world to see how we meld respectful emergency food services with advocacy and community development.
• In 2005, The Stop received the City of Toronto’s first Green Toronto Environmental Award of Excellence and in 2006 we received the Social Justice Award for Neighbourhood organizing from the Centre for Social Justice.
• In 2008, our Executive Director, Nick Saul, received the Jane Jacobs Award honouring outstanding Torontonians who enhance our city’s vitality.
• In 2009, our Urban Agriculture Coordinator, Rhonda Teitel-Payne was chosen as one of the Toronto Community Foundation’s Vital People.

Programs

>Food Access
>Community Food Security
>Community Action and Public Education

1. Food Access: Increasing access to good, nutritious food through drop-in meals, food bank and Good Food Market

2. Community Food Security: Builds skills and reduces social isolation through cooking and gardening classes and workshops

3. Community Action and Public Education: Increases civic engagement, provides advocacy training, as well as food systems education for children and youth

Food Access

The food access program at our main 1884 Davenport site is designed to meet people’s immediate needs, and meet them where they are. These include a food bank where community members can access a three-day supply of food once a month. We strive to provide a dignified environment and the highest-quality, freshest food possible. As well, we offer daily drop-in meals (high-quality breakfast, lunch and snacks, prepared by a professional chef and a team of volunteers) where members can eat, socialize and access community support. Our weekly Good Food Market offers very low-cost food sourced from FoodShare Toronto and supplemented by organic produce from our own Green Barn farmers’ market. This latter is subsidized by revenue from that market, as well as sales of donated food (food that could not be re-sold by farmers), and, occasionally, our core funds.

Program Impact

In 2009, our food bank distributed 221,193 meals—more than most food banks in the city—and our drop-in program served 45,701 nutritious meals and snacks. As well, our annual survey of community members found that an average of 50% of program participants said they’d made friends at The Stop (up to 90% in some programs) and 60 % said they’d learned to eat a better diet.

Toronto's Vital Signs® indicator(s) addressed by Program

“The average cost of basic nutritious food for a family of four in Toronto rose by 9.4% over two years. This same family on social assistance would need to spend 33% of its income on food and 72% on rent—that’s more than they have and doesn’t include other basic needs.” (Toronto’s Vital Signs®, 2009)

Participant Vignette

When Carla Costa first started coming to The Stop, it was still called The Stop 103, and it had a staff of four. As Carla describes it, at the time, $100 would buy you about 12 to 15 bags of groceries. Now, that same amount of money will get you, if you’re lucky, about 8 or 9 bags—and that has to last you the month. Accordingly, and unfortunately, The Stop has grown to fill the need such an economy has created, as increasing numbers of people like Carla require our services and programs. 34-year-old Carla has been blind since birth. Born in Portugal, she came to Toronto in 1977. In 1992, she moved into Metro Housing, and, with assistance from BALANCE, a non-profit that enables people with vision loss to live more independently, learned how to cook for herself. The insufficiency of her Ontario Disability Support Program benefits, however, and a friend’s advice, soon led her to The Stop. Carla felt an instant connection: “I came with my guide dog and asked for the supervisor,” she says. She met with Cliff Gayer, who ran our food bank. She asked him if The Stop served the blind. “We serve everybody,” he said. And indeed, she felt immediately welcome—returning to use the food bank, enjoy the drop-in meals and, later, to work in our community garden at Earlscourt Park. “The Stop’s a great place for a blind person,” she says. “Everyone’s very friendly and you meet lots of new people.”

Community Food Security

Our community food security programs include a wide spectrum of community gardens and kitchens; cooking and gardening workshops; an after-school program, YIMBY (Yes In My Backyard, a garden sharing program); the Healthy Beginnings perinatal program; and Shovel and Spoon (a cooking and gardening program for marginalized and isolated adults). The Green Barn Farmers’ Market, which we operate, aims to improve access between local farms and consumers.

Program Impact

• 2,500 pounds of food were grown in The Stop’s community garden and greenhouse (an amount that will increase by 50% or more over 2010).
• 20,000 free seedlings were distributed to Toronto community gardens.
• The YIMBY program is currently cultivating 50 backyards and will produce about 6,800 kg of food.
• Each year, The Stop offers 176 community kitchen sessions (comprising 1,664 individual visits) and, in 2009, 140 sessions for adults in the garden and greenhouse (1,240 visits, an amount that will increase by 30%).

Toronto's Vital Signs® indicator(s) addressed by Program

“Farmers’ markets provide an opportunity for small farmers to market directly to consumers in the city. In 2004, there were a dozen farmers’ markets in the city. By 2009, 20 of the 139 members of Farmers’ Market Ontario were situated in Toronto.” (Toronto’s Vital Signs®, 2009)

Participant Vignette

“I came to Canada because I thought I could distinguish myself here,” Nao Ito says. And he certainly has—especially at The Stop. In his early 30s, Nao was born and raised in Nagoya, Japan, but left soon after high school to attend prep school in Australia. Ever-nomadic, he studied biology and chemistry in B.C. and arrived in Toronto two years ago, taking a job with an environmental consulting company. “I thought, ‘Why not Toronto?’ It’s Canada’s biggest city. But when I first got here, I didn’t know anybody.” That soon changed. Nao became friendly with some members of the Toronto Community Garden Network, and they introduced him to our community garden at Earlscourt Park. The experience proved revelatory. A vegetarian since the age of 18, Nao had nonetheless never grown his own food. “All my life, I thought, ‘If I go to the grocery store, the food will be there.’ I didn’t even know what organic vegetables were. I was trained as a chemist, so if you say organic that means it has carbon in it. And I thought, everything’s organic. But I know the difference now.” Nao fully embraced gardening and The Stop. He volunteered eight hours a week during the growing season (through heat, mosquitoes, a garbage strike), and never missed a single volunteer session, even when sick. Aside from the pleasure, satisfaction and knowledge he’s gained from working with The Stop, Nao speaks most enthusiastically about the people he’s met. “Gardening people are really down-to-earth and well-grounded,” he says, smiling shyly at his pun. “We’ve become good friends.”

Community Action and Public Education

Our community action and public education programs are designed to address the root causes of poverty and to advocate for improved public policies. They include a Speakers Bureau (where community members affected by poverty use their experiences and stories to raise awareness); social justice training; a Community Advocacy Office (where members receive support around immigration, income security, housing and employment); sustainable food systems education for kids; and the Bread and Bricks Davenport Social Justice Group (a working group of concerned citizens who plan and facilitate events and actions to address issues of poverty in the community and across Ontario).

Program Impact

In 2009, Bread and Bricks held 72 meetings of its advocacy, events, and community economic development committees (each attended by an average of ten people). More than 8000 people participated in the Do the Math campaign for social assistance increase and rate reform. Speakers Bureau members spoke at 30 different community events. 290 children participated in a five-module food systems education program covering poverty, cooking and food traditions, biodiversity, food security and farming issues. Approximately 1000 community members attended film nights, anti-poverty rallies and Put Food in the Budget events.

Toronto's Vital Signs® indicator(s) addressed by Program

“Residents in low-income neighbourhoods are at a greater risk of illness, chronic disease and premature death. Low income is linked to other factors, such as immigration status, family structure and educational attainment and all of these interact to create significant health inequalities between Toronto’s wealthier and poorer neighbourhoods. Toronto Public Health has demonstrated that the difference is not just between extreme wealth and poverty, but that every increase in income is accompanied by an increase in positive health outcomes.” (Toronto’s Vital Signs®, 2009)

Participant Vignette

People discover The Stop in hundreds of different ways, but Maureen Arlain first heard of us when she was doing her laundry. The 56-year-old grandmother was at a laundromat on St. Clair when a gregarious fellow named Francis introduced himself and told her about our food bank. “He was a little lonely, I think,” Maureen says of her friend, who was a frequent guest at the Drop-in. Francis’s invitation proved fortuitous. Maureen had previously volunteered as a cleaner at The Perram House hospice, where she met our Volunteer Coordinator, Susan MacDonald, who was employed there at the time. The two were re-united at The Stop and Maureen quickly became as indispensable as she was at Perram House. Originally from St. Lucia, where she studied library science, Maureen became one of our first Community Advocates. “I’m a very from-the-heart kind of person,” Maureen says. That, coupled with her own direct experience with poverty—she’s currently on social assistance herself—permitted her great insight into the community’s issues, as well as great compassion. In a typical shift at our Advocacy office, she wears many hats, helping community members with housing, emotional problems, Ontario Works issues or, as some members don’t have telephones, simply helping them to make a phone call. Not surprisingly, Maureen’s become an integral part of our Bread and Bricks social justice group, assisting with our Do the Math and Put Food in the Budget campaigns. Both campaigns are close to her heart; well-aware of how expensive and elusive food can be, she’s also extremely aware of how food can unify. “Food is the basis of society,” she says. “It brings people together.”