Mayor’s Mississauga holiday food drive seeks to raise $1.7 million, 450,000 pounds of food

Mayor Bonnie Crombie’s 2022 Holiday Food Drive in support of The Mississauga Food Bank has set a couple of ambitious goals as it sets out to once again provide for those in need across the city.

The mayor’s food drive, which will officially launch this Friday at Nissan Headquarters in Mississauga, is looking to raise $1.7 million and 450,000 pounds of food by Jan. 6.

“This holiday season, give fresh food and hope to your hungry neighbours in Mississauga by supporting Mayor Crombie’s 2022 Holiday Food Drive,” food bank officials said on The Mississauga Food Bank website. “With your help, we can ensure that everyone has healthy and appropriate food to share around their holiday table.”

In addition to Friday’s campaign launch, food bank CEO Meghan Nicholls will appear before Mississauga City council on Wednesday (Nov. 16) to speak about the importance of this year’s food drive and the need in the community.

Food bank officials hope the holiday drive will be more successful than the Thanksgiving Food Drive earlier this fall.

That campaign raised $706,392 and collected 371,153 pounds of food. While those totals were significantly less than the food bank’s ambitious goal of $1.5 million and 500,000 pounds of food, the agency did improve on 2021 Thanksgiving drive numbers ($656,000 and 370,000 pounds of food).

Mayor @BonnieCrombie's 2022 Holiday Food Drive is back!❄️🎁 Give fresh food and hope to your hungry neighbours by helping to raise $1,700,000 and 450,000 pounds of food.

Visit our website for details: https://t.co/rJ6MssT0WD

The Holiday Food Drive is sponsored by @nissancanada pic.twitter.com/9eD8RDb8C8

— Food Banks Mississauga (@FoodBanksMissi) November 14, 2022

Food bank officials say their organization, the city’s central food bank with a network of more than 50 agencies, has seen an almost 60 per cent increase in food bank users from before the pandemic. The Mississauga Food Bank now serves more than 30,000 people in need annually.

Officials add that there’s “an urgent and pressing need to raise more than double the funds to continue to support the growing demand” for food bank services in Mississauga.

The Mississauga Food Bank recently released The Face of Hunger in Mississauga Annual Impact Report, which collects facts and figures related to the food bank’s efforts.

The latest such figures were tracked between June 2021 and May 2022.

Among other information, the report reveals:

• there were 30,038 food bank users (June 2021 to May 2022), including 10,053 children, who visited a Mississauga food bank. Nearly 7,300 were first-time food bank users (25,800 food bank users the previous year)
• The Mississauga Food Bank distributed more than 5.2 million pounds of food through its network of more than 50 agencies. That translates to more than 5.6 million meals, a 22 per cent increase from the previous year
• The Mississauga Food Bank, through donations and other efforts, served 16 per cent more users this past year than the previous year
• the food bank’s 1,905 volunteers contributed more than 30,000 hours of service

The Mississauga Food Bank, through its network of more than 50 agencies, distributes food for more than five million meals each year to vulnerable children, seniors and others.