Food bank stays mobile thanks to ‘gold’ sponsor

Barrick Gold Corporation announced a 3-year, $100,000 sponsorship of Daily Bread Food Bank’s fleet of five food delivery trucks at Daily Bread’s Toronto facility on Dec. 21. The sponsorship comes through Barrick’s Heart of Gold Fund which supports Canadian non-profit organizations and other charitable endeavours with mandates that contribute to economic and social development.

“Barrick’s mandate is to create positive change in the countries in which we do business, and it is also important that we help support our neighbours where we are headquartered here in Toronto,” said Peter Sinclair, Chief Sustainability Officer, Barrick.

Barrick has been donating to Daily Bread Food Bank since 2008, and sponsored one truck from 2012 to 2014.

“The majority of Daily Bread’s member agencies are small, and do not have their own trucks or the resources to pick up food for their clients,” said Gail Nyberg, Executive Director of Daily Bread Food Bank. “Our trucks and drivers are extremely important in executing our mission to get food to people that need it.”

Daily Bread Food Bank has five trucks that deliver and pick up donated food throughout Toronto five days a week. The trucks load up with food every morning between 7:30 am and 8:30 am, leave the warehouse to deliver food to agencies, then pick up food donations, and return by 4:30 pm. Daily Bread’s trucks travel an average of 25,000 km per year, and play a critical role in the distribution process that supplies nourishment for 110,000 client visits at almost 200 food bank and meal programs across the city.