When the Harbourfront Gives Foundation team thought about the best way to help families in need this holiday season, it set an ambitious goal: provide 10,000 meals to families across the country through Food Banks Canada.
The Harbourfront Gives Foundation mobilized the talent and drive of the employees at Harbourfront Wealth Management, and within 24 hours donations soared past the 10,000-meal mark. The team decided to create a new increased goal of 50,000 meals and in just two weeks, that goal was also exceeded. Amazingly, with the commitment and generosity of Harbourfront Wealth Management’s CEO, Danny Popescu, the impact was further increased! Mr. Popescu matched and doubled the team’s impressive fundraising results, resulting in the Harbourfront Gives Foundation providing 151,000 meals to families in Canada this holiday season through Food Banks Canada.
Across the country, more people are turning to food banks than ever before. There has likely never been a more difficult time for food banks in Canada. Many people are visiting for the first time, making the difficult choice to ask for help because their money simply isn’t stretching far enough to cover their expenses. It is estimated that Canada’s most vulnerable made almost 1.5 million visits to food banks in March 2022 alone.
Food banks are dealing with incredible volatility, from changes in the availability of food donations to decreased access to methods of transporting food where it’s needed, in addition to weather crises that call on food banks to operate through floods and fires, as they did this past year in British Columbia in particular.
Food Banks Canada provides national leadership to relieve hunger today and prevent hunger tomorrow, in collaboration with the food bank network from coast-to-coast. The vision of this charity is to ensure no one needs to go hungry, anywhere in Canada. Over the past decade, Food Banks Canada has sourced and shared almost 1.4 billion pounds of food, while sharing $168 million in funding to maximize collective impact and strengthen local resources.
The Harbourfront Holiday Meals campaign is one of many Harbourfront Gives Foundation initiatives aimed at providing a lifeline to people and communities across Canada. The Foundation contributes to Canadian-approved charities aligned with its core values as an organization. Beneficiaries include organizations supporting health, children, education, and community development, both locally and around the world.
