Most Food Banks in the past were distributing mainly non-perishable food so we were basically distributing the types of food items you would see in the interior part of a grocery store, and a lot of an old food bank diet was high sodium, high preservative and increased client’s health risks. Recognizing the health struggles this created, the Burlington Food Bank and other similar food banks, realized that they weren’t delivering optimal healthy choices so we started to change, adding milk, eggs, bread and most importantly fresh produce and protein to round out options for a far more nutritious diet.

We’ve been able to increase the amount of fresh produce thanks to St Christopher’s Open Doors program. They have had to close their doors during the Covid-19 crisis and moved their spend on fresh to join with our own, this equates to a lot more fresh produce for each of our clients.