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Feed Scarborough is tackling food insecurity by using the United Nations’ sustainable development goals as a guide.
CBC reports that the head of the food bank is encouraging other organizations to follow suit due to its success.
There are 17 goals in total, including eliminating poverty and hunger and promoting “responsible consumption and production.”
Feed Scarborough’s executive director, Suman Roy, said the goals have positively impacted the food bank and its clientele since he started applying them to the charity’s operations and programs about a year and a half ago.
He said, “We are helping our community members to have better income and have the wraparound services, so they don’t need a food bank. And we are seeing results.”
In a recent survey, 46 per cent of Feed Scarborough’s clients said they would have to go to bed hungry if the food bank closed its doors today. That’s down from 91 per cent a year ago, Roy said.
That impact is largely due to the food bank’s comprehensive programming, which aims to go beyond simply supplying food. Initiatives include Canada’s first online food bank, culinary training programs, and a healthy meal program.
Although food banks across the country have been recording record-breaking numbers and calling for the government to address systemic issues that contribute to poverty and food insecurity, the Feed Scarborough team says that organizations can start addressing those issues now by implementing the UN sustainable development goals.
In a recent news release, Bob Rae, Canada’s permanent representative to the UN, praised the food bank. He said, “Food insecurity is a crisis we can and must address. Feed Scarborough’s leadership brings hope and tangible action toward achieving the UN’s zero hunger goal by 2030.”
