Today, Second Harvest announced the mobilization of a country-wide initiative which will be making immediate efforts to provide support to the tens of thousands of community food programs across the country that are struggling to access food.  

Dubbed the "Food Rescue Canadian Alliance Task Force" and led by Second Harvest, the task force includes collaborations between national leaders within the food industry, non-profits, and government. Participating members include businesses like Loblaw Companies Ltd. and Sysco, as well as charities like Breakfast Club of Canada and Salvation Army. Prior to assembling, Canada’s largest food rescue organization worked alongside Value Chain Management International to map and identify over 60,000 Canadian organizations that provide food to vulnerable populations. 

“We want to make sure that food relief organizations across the country that stay open can provide critical, life-saving support to our most marginalized communities,” said Lori Nikkel, CEO of Second Harvest. “We need to ensure that the entire food supply chain can be plugged into a solution to benefit those in need. That solution is FoodRescue.ca.” 

Through the FoodRescue.ca platform, businesses that have food are able to easily connect with local non-profit organizations that can then redistribute it to those in need. The website can also enable food donors and non-profits to coordinate donations with minimal interaction, reducing the risk of compromising social distancing practices.

“In times like these, vulnerable community members need our support the most,” said Nikkel. “With over 60,000 non-profit organizations in Canada supporting people, we must work together; there is no organization that can do this alone.”