Ottawa Food Bank receives largest donation in its four-decade history

The Ottawa Food Bank is receiving a record-breaking donation as it continues to see increased demand from the community. CTV’s Peter Szperling reports.

The Ottawa Food Bank is receiving a record-breaking donation as it continues to see increased demand from the community for support.

Franklin Holtforster and his family are donating $2.5 million to the food bank, the largest donation in the four-decade history of the Ottawa organization.

“Our family has been great beneficiaries of having moved to Ottawa about 40 years ago. The city has been good to us, I’ve retired, and I think it’s an opportunity to give back,” Holtforster said on CTV Your Morning Ottawa Tuesday morning.

“It’s almost impossible to imagine food insecurity; food is so fundamental, the ability to prepare a meal. Our family — my three sons, my wife and I thought that, really, the food bank was the place to start. It’s basic, it’s fundamental, and it’s not being done enough, I guess, by government so people need to step up.”

The 10-year donation in ten $250,000 installments will support the purchase and distribution of food to the Ottawa Food Bank’s network of agencies across Ottawa.

“It gives us some predictability to be able to know that we will have that funding over the next 10 years,” Rachael Wilson, CEO of the Ottawa Food Bank, said.

“That means that we’ll be able to count on that support and be able to plan around that, which is really challenging for us when every year we’re starting with nothing, and we have to raise $30 million a year to run the food bank. This will be a great starting point for us every year.”

“Absolutely astonished, amazed and just so overwhelmed with this incredible support. It means so much to our community to have that reliable funding over the next 10 years. And it’s going to mean so much for the network of agencies that we work with,” Wilson added.

The Ottawa Food Bank reported over 560,000 visits to the 90 organizations it worked with last year, and Wilson said, “we’re not seeing any relief this year.”

Holtforster said his family decided to donate to the Ottawa Food Bank because it is “remarkable for what it accomplishes with the money it collects.”

“It’s a number; that’s great. But really, it’s about the food bank and it’s about helping them to have a sustaining ability to deliver against food insecurity,” Holtforster said.

“So, our commitment was about helping them to be able to predictability support people in Ottawa who need food.”

Holtforster and his wife Birgitte Alting-Mees are community builders who have been generous philanthropists to charities for years. In 2024, the family anonymously contributed $350,000 to the Ottawa Food Bank.

Holtforster and his family participated in the unveiling of a new mural at the Ottawa Food Bank warehouse Tuesday morning. The mural, designed by Dave Lafreniere of Mural Magic, is intended to serve as an “engaging visual experience and a tribute to the power of community collaboration, storytelling and generosity,” according to the food bank.

“The mural will serve as an engaging visual experience and a tribute to the power of community collaboration, storytelling and generosity,” the food bank said in a media release.

“This generous act will make a real human difference,” said Line Cote, a member of the Ottawa Food Bank’s equiTABLE Collective.

“A powerful act of hope, and we believe it will inspire others to step forward, give generously and help ensure that everyone in our community has access to the nourishment and support they deserve.”

A report for the Ottawa Board of Health shows 25 per cent of Ottawa households are facing food insecurity, up from 23.7 per cent in 2003 and 16.3 per cent in 2019.

Last month, council approved a motion directing city staff to develop a strategy to tackle the root causes of food insecurity in the city.

The motion, moved by Coun. Marty Carr, suggested the strategy involve advocacy to the provincial and federal governments to boost social assistance programs and index them to inflation and calls on the province to provide funding for organizations that address food insecurity.

With files from CTV News Ottawa’s Peter Szperling