Every spring and summer, donations to food banks plummet — leaving many families in Toronto hungry. Gratitude Bag is a simple, special way to generate a huge amount of food for our partner, Daily Bread Food Bank, during this “dry season.” Instead of asking people to make donations at their nearest food bank, we bring the food bank right to their doorstep. Last year, we tested Gratitude Bag in a few Toronto neighbourhoods, and the results were huge: over 10 tonnes of food that sent Daily Bread Food Bank’s donation bins overflowing! This year, we want to go even bigger. But we need help.
Acting as a distribution hub, Daily Bread is the largest provider of food relief in the GTA. Last year, Daily Bread provided food hampers for over 700,000 visits. One third of their clients are hungry families with children.
But Daily Bread has a monthly 50,000-pound shortfall during the summer months. With your help, we hope to fill that 100,000-pound need over July and August.
We weren’t sure at first. So we tested Gratitude Bag in Toronto east side neighbourhoods, including Riverdale, Leslieville, The Pocket, and Scarborough. Even with no prior publicity and minimal volunteers, we raised over 10 tonnes of food (and caught the attention of CityTV and Global!) And by experimenting with different locations, timing and strategies, we’ve figured out how to make Gratitude Bag get the best results possible.
We’re a small, diverse bunch of Torontonians who love our community: Grant Gordon and his family in Riverdale, Lauchlan Rogers, Mackenzie Gilmour and Trevor Watt who do all the work on the ground, and a growing bunch of volunteers. Special thanks to Monica and Melissa for all their great graphic design, and to Daily Bread Food Bank — who have been keeping Torontonians in need from going hungry for over 30 years.
(And of course, Gratitude Bag collaborates & communicates closely with Daily Bread to make sure our efforts are as thoughtful & helpful as possible.)
What does that mean? For a donation of just $10, Gratitude Bag can gather 20 meals. In other words, a little goes a long way. And a lot goes a really, really, really, really long way!
On Twitter: https://twitter.com/gratitudebagTO
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bagofgratitude?fref=ts
By email: contact@gratitudebag.org