Food bank in urgent need of more donations during pandemic

Thanksgiving is right around the corner and the need for food donations this year has never been more urgent because of the pandemic.

The Daily Bread Food Bank’s annual Thanksgiving food drive launches Thursday.

The charity has seen a 200 per cent increase in new clients this year due to COVID-19.

Toronto Mayor John Tory says this is a time for the city to come together to support those facing additional challenges posed by the pandemic.

Daily Bread will also make a special announcement about its Thanksgiving weekend activities, normally hundreds of volunteers take part in a public food sort.

The goal was to raise 1 million pounds of food last year.

Purolator will also be announcing its largest Red Bag campaign ever, part of the Tackle Hunger Program.

The Red Bag campaign is expanding to new neighbourhoods in support of Daily Bread.

Red bags will be distributed in specific Toronto communities, including Danforth, Woodbine, Riverdale, Parkdale, Roncesvalles and High Park.

The Toronto Fire Station 426 is one of the halls across the city that will be hosting donation boxes throughout the campaign.

Purolator will hold contactless drops of 12,000 red bags on Saturday, September 19, and will have contactless pick-up at 10:00am the following Saturday.

It said the most needed items are high-protein goods, such as tuna, peanut butter and canned beans, and canned fruits, canned vegetables, pasta and rice.

These locations will be set up for you to fill up with non-perishable food donations in efforts to help feed thousands of people this Thanksgiving.

You can also make donations on the Daily Bread’s website, or to place an order to have non-perishable items delivered to the Daily Bread warehouse.