THE GOOD PLACE
Connecting the Dots
How one non-profit enables Niagara’s food banks to work together in order to maximize doing good.
By Sarah Laing
(From top) FEED Niagara oversees the efforts of 10 community service programs across the niagara region, including food banks, thrift stores and community centres; Manager Paula Barrett will celebrate two years with the organization in 2025. | PHOTOS: (FROM TOP) LOREANTO/ADOBE STOCK; COURTESY OF FEED NIAGARA
FEED NIAGARA, founded just three years ago, has one overarching mission: to strengthen the work of a consortium of 10 food banks in the Niagara region by facilitating collaboration and amplifying their shared message about food insecurity. But what does that goal actually look like, in practice?
“I make connections,” says Paula Barrett, FEED Niagara’s manager and sole employee, for now. “The food banks were already doing informal collaboration on service delivery or sharing products, so the spirit of collaboration is really what sparked FEED Niagara.”
Building the infrastructure to facilitate collaboration among food banks is about more than just operational efficiencies — making bulk purchases to make dollars go further, for example, or applying for grants for the network as a whole — or streamlining inventories and investing in warehouse space.
“It’s to reduce hunger and poverty in the region. That’s the whole point,” Barrett points out. “The taglines we often use are ‘Together we’re stronger’ and ‘Collaboration over competition.’ It’s about making sure everybody is able to continue to do the work that they do.”
“It’s about making sure everybody as a whole is able to continue to do the work that they do.”
The work of food banks is simple: Feed anyone who is hungry, no questions asked. “The people who come to the door are the most economically precarious, the most vulnerable, in Niagara,” she says. “They won’t be turned away if they say they need food.”
The demand has also never been higher. Year over year, all 10 food banks have seen an average increase of 36% in the number of people served and how often they've visited. Also noteworthy is that children comprise 32 to 38 percent of people who access food banks. And there’s been a spike in the number of people who are working but unable to keep up with the increased cost of living.
This growing need is why it’s essential for FEED Niagara to help boost capacity, including tapping into donors who might want to support a region-wide initiative rather than a specific local food bank.
“Our impact is measured as meals served to the most vulnerable and economically challenged individuals in Niagara,” says Barrett. “Whatever comes in to FEED Niagara is distributed to the member food banks. It’s about building support without taking support from the individual food banks.” CAA
FEED Niagara is a CAA Niagara Big Food Boost recipient.
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