One of the things that sets us apart as the Burlington Food Bank is that we are the only members of Food Banks Canada and Feed Ontario, here in Burlington. Our membership comes with oversight and direction from both organizations as well as a connection with other members throughout Ontario and Canada. We are held to very high standards for food security and we are able to advocate better together with a single voice for those who need assistance sharing their struggles and concerns. We see food security as a larger issue than just food, there are layers to poverty so we try to help our clients beyond just supplying nutritious food, we also use our position to speak about those larger issues including housing, social assistance to name a couple.

Robin is actually part of the advocacy committee with Feed Ontario and during their regular meetings they discuss everything around these issues – not just food concerns. Being a participating active member of both organizations also provides us with national and provincial resources to learn and keep our staff and volunteers up to date. When it comes down to it we are advocating for our clients because they are the ones that matter not just now but post-covid as well.