An innovative new fund with the Niagara Community Foundation will help Niagara food banks put more sustenance on supper tables and food in fridges across the Region – now and in the future.
The FEED Niagara fund, created in 2023 by 10 Niagara food banks working collaboratively, will allow the agencies to accept donations and grants to support their work, and they and their donors will know the money will be safe and well-managed.
The 10 Niagara agencies, which cover all 12 of Niagara’s municipalities, had already joined forces in 2022 to share expertise and resources, said Pam Sharp, executive director of Project SHARE in Niagara Falls, one of the 10 member agencies. But the impetus for creating a fund into which donations can be funnelled came when CAA Niagara promised a million-dollar gift of $100,000 per year for 10 years. Previously, the collaborating agencies had taken turns applying for and managing grant money, but CAA’s gift called for a more structured approach.
“The Food Bank Fund was a really perfect fit for that because we know the need for food banks is not going away anytime soon,” Sharp said. “We are all seeing astronomical increases in our need, year over year.”
An endowment with the Niagara Community Foundation gives the member food banks the ability to think about the future, in addition to dealing with the daily hunger crises they face. Regular donations are still needed, “so we can make sure we can feed people today,” Sharp said, “but the need is just continuing to grow, so we are starting to look at how we are going to meet that need in the future?”
This joint venture allows the food bank to accept bigger and more varied food donations, sending one truck to pick up food instead of 10, or purchasing in bulk and stretching their donation dollars.
The even bigger benefit of the FEED Niagara Fund is that the food banks can now seek and accept corporate donations, with corporate donors knowing the gifts have the power to be transformational.
“It really is exciting because we are 10 individual agencies who are very much stretched beyond our capacity right now with the volume that we're serving,” Sharp said. “So we are really looking at it as ‘how do we help more people by working together?’ It’s working smarter, not harder.”
FEED Niagara Members
- Community Care of St. Catharines and Thorold
- Community Care of West Niagara (Lincoln)
- GBF Community Services (Grimsby)
- Newark Neighbours (Niagara-on-the-Lake)
- Pelham Cares (Pelham)
- Port Cares (Port Colborne and Wainfleet)
- Project SHARE (Niagara Falls)
- The Hope Centre (Welland)
- The Salvation Army (Fort Erie)
- West Lincoln Community Care (West Lincoln)
