On Friday, we were proud to reveal our new industrial size walk-in freezer, purchased and installed thanks to a generous $150,000 Capital grant received in the Spring of 2019 from the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF). We are extremely grateful for this generous support for the Ontario Trillium Foundation, as this is not a project we would have been able to take on without them.
To us, this freezer represents a lot more than simply keeping food frozen, it also represents being able to better support our community, and to adequately provide what is needed to our 112 community food program partners across the city who collectively supply food, support and hope to over 39,000 people every month.
In the past, we’ve been faced with situations where we’ve had to turn away certain donations simply because we were at capacity with our freezer space. It is heart-breaking to have to say “no” to a donor and that those donations were items that we were unable to provide to deserving families and individuals in our community. This freezer also opens our capacity for potential future waste reduction programming. This will give us the potential of freezing certain items such as; chopped fruit or vegetables to conserve them for longer.
An additional thank you to MPP John Fraser and Ontario Trillium Foundation’s board member Larry Malloy for joining us to reveal our new freezer.
Quotes:
Unfortunately, food bank usage is at an all time high, however this grant allows the Ottawa Food Bank the ability to further support those most vulnerable in our community. Having the capacity to accept further perishable food items will ensure that more food is served to those in need.
You never want to tell a supporter – whether corporate or an individual – that you can’t accept their donation of goods due to lack of space in the warehouse. Thanks to the Ontario Trillium Foundation’s grant we’ve installed a 6,900 cubic foot walk-in freezer to increase our capacity, so we won’t have to do that again.
Quick Facts:
- $150,000 grant to purchase and install a walk-in freezer
- Over 6,900 cubic feet of freezer space (18’ wide x 24’ long x 16’ high)
- Last year, 49 percent of the food distributed by the Ottawa Food Bank was fresh – including fruits, vegetables, eggs, dairy, and meat
- The Ottawa Food Bank works with 112 community food programs across the city to provide food to over 39,000 people every month
- For more information, please visit the website or Facebook page. Follow the Ottawa Food Bank on Twitter @OttawaFoodBank
- The Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) is an agency of the Government of Ontario, and one of Canada’s leading granting foundations. OTF awarded $108 million to 629 projects last year to build healthy and vibrant communities in Ontario
