A new survey shows that 89 per cent of Canadian organizations saw an increase in demand for food over the past year. “We do an annual survey just to get a pulse check on our nonprofit network to see how things are going on,” said Emily Browning, senior operations manager for Atlantic Canada with Second Harvest. “We found that numbers are trending upwards. Unfortunately, our survey last year we had 87 per cent reporting the need for more food and increased need in food, whereas this year we’re seeing almost 90 per cent. It’s tough to see.” The survey found 33 per cent of organizations have a waitlist for support, while 35 per cent have had to turn people away due to limited food or resources. “We have never turned anyone away. And honestly, it’s a miracle because all that we offer is free,” says Michelle Porter, CEO of Souls Harbour in Nova Scotia. “We’re a free restaurant. And yet somehow it’s able to stretch to make sure everyone has something to take. We used to get 150 people on a busy day, and two weeks ago we served 250 people. Within three hours. We were the busiest restaurant in town that day.” For Porter, relying on the community is key to their capabilities. “I think that we probably give more thought to food waste than the average person who is cleaning out the fridge and throwing out all kinds of things. We use donated food on a daily basis,” she said. “I think sometimes people don’t understand the term waste. We’re not talking about food that actually should be composted. We’re talking about food that is surplus or leftover.” “Everything we do, I make sure it makes sense. If we take or spend a lot of time to source things locally, to avoid waste or bad ecological impact or financial impact, whatever is hyper local,” said Cédric Toullec, owner and chef of Lou Pécou. “When we have a chance to transform something that most people would call waste into a dish that we cannot serve here because it’s not on the menu or the staff is not necessarily trained on it, then we just simply offer it to people that have a big enough capacity to redistribute it to the community.” To which Porter is extremely grateful. “One of the things that Nova Scotia has implemented very recently are the lunch program. If you buy your lunch but you’re sick that day, that produces an extra lunch. Souls Harbor picks up lunches from several schools, redistributes them into the community food pantries, as well as our own shelter system,” she said. “We definitely take leftovers of all kinds. One of the things about takeaway food, like an extra lunch, is that it empowers people to stay in their own homes. By the time you reach a soup kitchen or a drop-in center, it means that you’re doing less and less on your own with your own family. Anything we can do to shorten that gap is very helpful to our community.” “I never think about it as a business owner. I just think about it as a human,” said Toullec. “Because those people are in a more needs than most of us, then I know what I’m giving through those pizzas, it’s not a pizza. It’s like a moment of like smiles, peace and comfort. I’m doing pizza and so this is what I have to give. So I give it with a lot of pleasure.” The findings of the survey point to an opportunity to make better use of food that is already available. “I think that there’s a broad misconception in the food insecurity space for people who are not necessarily overly familiar with it, that food banks are the only places where people are accessing food support,” said Browning. “And that’s just not true. We actually found that Canada has four times more non-profits providing food support than we have grocery stores in Canada.” According to Second Harvest, on average, 36 per cent of the food available at responding organizations comes from their app. “I think that there’s a misunderstanding that, you know, we’re seeing an increased need in food support because there’s not enough food, but that’s just not true. We’ve done research, and we found that there’s actually enough food being wasted in Canada every year to feed 17 million people three meals a day, every day for a year,” said Browning. “What Second Harvest does is really try and help bridge that gap between where is the food being wasted and where is the need. We run our free matchmaking service kind of for donated food, surplus food that’s not going to be eaten but is still perfectly safe to eat. “And getting it to nonprofits that are using that to feed their community and people who are hungry. Ee do have a growing need. We also have the food. We just have to get it from where it’s going, which is typically waste stream and into the hands of people who are hungry and on plates instead of landfills.” Among respondents, 91 per cent said Second Harvest enables them to access more food while 85 per cent said it helps them save money. “Any of these businesses that have surplus food, for whatever reason it may be, as long as it’s still safe to eat, they can post a donation on our free Second Harvest Food Rescue app. The app will then notify local nonprofits in our network that there’s a donation available, and they can decide that, oh my gosh, we need milk, we’re out of milk and there’s a donation for milk. They press claim, they go pick it up and they use it in their programing,” said Browning. “A lot of times the same day that it’s rescued. “When you’re wasting a tomato, for instance, you’re not just throwing away one tomato, you’re throwing away the labor to harvest it. We’re not only just talking about the resource and the methane gases that comes from wasting food and having it decompose in landfill. But we’re also talking about all the resources that went into it.”
