New name, but work is the same for main food bank in Mississauga

The name has changed, but Mississauga’s largest food bank is still doing the same work in the face of the same growing challenges, officials with the organization say.

As of this week, The Mississauga Food Bank has rebranded itself as Food Banks Mississauga (FBM), which leads a network of dozens of member agencies across Canada’s seventh-largest city.

“As a network leader of over 60 agency members providing food to neighbours facing food insecurity in Mississauga, this new name better reflects our leadership position and how our work goes beyond just one organization,” a news release from FBM reads. “Food Banks Mississauga is the hub that serves all of Mississauga through its network.”

Food Banks Mississauga CEO Meghan Nicholls wrote in an email to food bank supporters that while the organization has changed its name, many things haven’t changed.

“We’re still doing the same critical work we’ve always done, helping our neighbours get the food and support they need to live full and healthy lives,” she said.

“How we support our neighbours facing food insecurity has not changed. Our new name more accurately reflects how our work has evolved as the need in our community grows, and more folks face food insecurity as a result of poverty,” Nicholls added in the news release. “We now provide food to 82 per cent more food bank users compared to four years ago, pre-pandemic.”

FBM officials add the organization not only provides food and
resources to support people facing food insecurity now, but it also “advocates for long-term, systemic change to address the root cause of food insecurity — poverty.”

Nicholls said earlier that this past summer has been “one of the toughest summers in recent memory for a lot of families in Mississauga.”

So, she urges people to donate food, money or their time as fall and holiday season food drives are just around the corner.

“Thousands of kids have been desperately missing the school meal and snack programs that are a lifeline to their families,” Nicholls said earlier, referring to the downside to summer holidays for struggling families and their children.

For more information or to volunteer, visit the FBM website.