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Thank you for spreading kindheartedness

Kind hearts are strong hearts and strong hearts do more good.

We’re thrilled to announce that with your help, by simply purchasing your favourite Becel® products, 100,000 meals were donated to Canadians facing food insecurity.

For every Becel® product purchased between February 1 and April 30, 2021, Becel® donated $1 through its Kind Hearts Fund* to support local charities in communities across Canada in providing meals to persons facing food insecurity. Through your purchase of Becel® products, you helped provide 100,000 meals to your fellow Canadians.

*Up to a total donation of $100,000

Becel® is proud to celebrate the kindheartedness of these charitable organizations and their community volunteers. By sharing their stories, we hope to inspire further acts of kindheartedness across Canada.

Food for Life – Burlington, ON

Food for Life is a volunteer-powered, grassroots organization focused on rescuing and redistributing fresh, nutritious food. Since 1995, this small but mighty organization has rescued more than 26 million pounds of food, partnering with suppliers and grocery stores to get fresh food to those in need. Through this model, Food for Life turns every $1 donated into the equivalent of four meals.

Meet Juliet!

Juliet couldn’t have gotten off to a more heartfelt start volunteering at Food for Life – her first day was February 14, 2017. Every Tuesday, Juliet runs a program in her co-operative housing complex where she hands out fresh food to those struggling to make ends meet. She also inspires kindheartedness in the next generation, encouraging youth to volunteer their time with Food for Life.

Airdrie Food Bank – Airdrie, AB

The kindhearted individuals at the Airdrie Food Bank see their work not just as food distribution, but as neighbours helping neighbours. The Airdrie Food Bank serves as the first line of emergency food support for local families and individuals facing crisis. For more than 35 years, it has worked to meet the increasing demand for food services, opening its Community Kitchen in 2016 and providing food hampers during the pandemic.

Meet Wayne!

As a volunteer at the Airdrie Food Bank, Wayne is known as a quiet soul who is making a loud impact in his community. Wayne is a veteran who served Canada for 22 years; today, he volunteers to manage his PTSD and make a difference. Wayne has been a volunteer at the Airdrie Food Bank since March 2016, lending a helping hand with the food hamper program.

Barrie Food Bank – Barrie, ON

For more than 30 years, the kind hearts at the Barrie Food Bank have been serving their city through food assistance programs and pre-packaged grocery hampers. The Barrie Food Bank distributes groceries to more than 850 local households each month, addressing the growing need for its services. As a community-based organization, Barrie Food Bank is 100 per cent supported by its community and kindhearted brands like Becel®.

Community Food Sharing Association – St. John’s, NFLD

The Community Food Sharing Association is a volunteer-led registered charity, operating out of St. John’s to service the province. With the help of hundreds of kindhearted volunteers, CFSA works with food banks through Newfoundland and Labrador to feed the needs of more than 10,700 individuals.

Feed Nova Scotia – Halifax, NS

In 2020, the kind hearts at Feed Nova Scotia helped distribute more than two million kilograms of food – up 15 per cent from 2019. While food banks and meal programs continue to be its main focus, Feed Nova Scotia also introduced the new COVID-19 Food Box initiative to provide home delivery of food to Nova Scotians who could not get access to food support programs.

Meet Norma!

At 71 years young, Norma is Feed Nova Scotia’s longest-serving volunteer, having logged 9,400 hours over the years. It’s easy to see why she is such a kindhearted individual. Throughout the pandemic, Norma has continued her volunteer efforts from the safety of her home, assisting with food delivery scheduling and answering calls from community members during the holiday season.

Feed the Need – Durham Region, ON

Feed the Need in Durham is fighting to eliminate hunger in the local community, using kindheartedness and compassionate action to provide access to healthy and nutritious food. Working with a network of community partners, it distributes 1.2 million meals each year. The volunteers at Feed the Need are truly the heart of their organization, with almost 600 volunteer hours donated each month to help meet the community’s needs.

Food Depot Alimentaire – Moncton, NB

This New Brunswick charitable organization is tackling community hunger in a big way, serving more than 1.1 million meals to community members in the last year. They do so through a number of initiatives, including the operation of their Moncton-based Community Food Centre – a hub for food distribution, a thrift store, community teaching kitchen and more.

Harvest Share – Parry Sound, ON

Harvest Share Community Food Programs is a non-profit, charitable organization serving the Muskoka region. Through community meal programs, food rescue initiatives and fresh food distribution, this organization aims to improve access to healthy, nutritious food for those in need. More than providing a meal, Harvest Share seeks long-term solutions through education programs, teaching community members how to eat well while spending less by using ingredients accessible through the food bank.

Loaves and Fishes Community Food Bank – Nanaimo, BC

Loaves and Fishes infuses sharing and caring into all their community programs – from hamper deliveries to food recovery. Beyond just rescuing food, they also launched the Empties 4 Food recycling program, gathering empty beverage containers and turning them into healthy, nutritious food. Their efforts go beyond Nanaimo with a dozen satellite food depots.

Moisson Montreal – Montreal, QC
 

Founded in 1987, Moisson Montreal helps to fight food insecurity by recovering and redistributing food that would otherwise be thrown away. By doing so, Moisson Montreal accomplishes two kindhearted goals – it keeps perfectly good food from going to waste, while supporting local communities. Moisson Montreal relies on its incredible volunteers to run the organization’s daily operations, from sorting food and preparing orders to participating in fundraising events.

Project SHARE – Niagara Falls, ON

The programs at Project SHARE create positive, proactive alternatives for people living below the poverty line to maintain their dignity and get assistance in times of crisis. This need has never been greater. Through its food bank, Project SHARE provides emergency food access to 126 families each day. With nearly 200 kindhearted residents volunteering, Project SHARE shows how a community can help address food insecurity and empower those in need.

Regina Food Bank - Regina, SK

The philosophy of the Regina Food Bank? Fight hunger, feed hope. And it’s doing just that by serving the most vulnerable members of its community through community-based programs to eliminate hunger, build food skills and bring kindhearted Canadians together. The Regina Food Bank helps more than 14,000 people access food each year, receiving more than 239 requests every day.

Regional Food Distribution Association – Thunder Bay, ON
 

From serving healthy meals to teaching cooking skills and planting gardens, the community heroes at Regional Food Distribution Association embody kindheartedness. More working people are finding their food budgets stretched, turning to food banks to feed themselves and their families. Each month, the Regional Food Distribution Association’s food banks and food programs provide more than 26,000 meals.

Unemployed Help Centre – Windsor, ON

“Let us help you get your life back on track;” that’s the mission of the Unemployed Help Centre (UHC) which has supported its community for over 40 years. To reduce food insecurity, Plentiful Harvest Food Rescue recovers fresh and prepared food, redistributing it locally and to food banks across Ontario. The UHC also runs a community kitchen – used to prepare thousands of meals– and maintains 200 community gardens.

Meet Chilmon!

Immigrating from Syria six years ago, Chilmon began volunteering at the UHC’s People’s Choice Pantry to become familiar with his new home. Through he started as a quiet worker, Chilmon has blossomed; a kindhearted volunteer, he has become an integral part of the team. Whether packing donation boxes, distributing fresh produce or unloading delivery vehicles, he does everything with warmth and a smile.

Whitehorse Food Bank – Whitehorse, YK

Food insecurity is disproportionately worse in the North, which makes the work done by the Whitehorse Food Bank so vital. As a community-based organization, it provides emergency food to those in need, including a food hamper program that reaches nearly 2,000 people each month. The Whitehorse Food Bank largely relies on the kindheartedness of volunteers, who donate hundreds of hours to stock shelves, grow food and host food drives.

By Supporting the Becel® Kind Hearts Fund, you helped to fight food insecurity.

Food insecurity is the inability to access nutritious food in socially acceptable ways, or the uncertainty that one will be able to do so. Household food insecurity is often linked with a household’s financial ability to access adequate food. In 2020, almost one in seven (14.6%) Canadians lived with food insecurity, and the pandemic brought about additional financial and food instability for many families. By supporting these local charities, Becel® helped get food onto the plates of those who need it most.