Donate – Parkdale Food Centre

November 1, 2016November 1, 2016

Help your neighbours this holiday season

As the holiday season and the end of the year approaches, we’re often asked about ways people can help their neighbours. Donations make an enormous difference to our programs and the support that we are able to offer the more than 750 people we help each month.

Set up a Monthly Donation

Recurring monthly donations are the best way to support the Food Centre. These regular donations help us plan accurately for the future and guarantee a minimum amount of support every month. You can set up a recurring donation here.

Make a One Time Donation
Our online Reverse Food Truck provides a variety of options for sponsorship and donations, from sponsoring a neighbour for a set period of time, giving a one time donation of the things we’re most in need of, supporting a specific program, or just simply helping out. You can make a one time donation here.

Donate in person
We’re always happy to welcome visitors to the Centre, and happily accept donations of non-perishable food, preferably items from our Good Food List, or even fresh produce. We also post weekly updates about our most needed supplies on twitter, facebook, and instagram, so you can find out what is running low, or is in the most demand as our #PFCMostNeeded.

Contribute to our annual Soup & Socks campaign
Each year, we collect canned soup, warm socks for men, women, and children, and little extras like coffee, hot chocolate, hats, mittens, and Giant Tiger gift cards to distribute to our neighbours throughout December. Socks, soup and additions can be dropped off at the Centre during our regular operating hours. If you would prefer to donate financially to this campaign, please click here.

Give your time
Another way to give is to get involved as a volunteer. Our volunteers help with everything from stocking shelves, leading workshops, the collective kitchen, and even running our website. Do you have some time or skills to lend? Learn more about how to get involved on our Volunteers page.

July 27, 2016October 4, 2016

All About Food Community Walk-A-Thon

The Parkdale Food Centre is happy to be participating in the All About Food Community Walk-A-Thon. On Sunday, October 16th, registration and pledge drop off starts at 12:30 pm at the Dalhousie Food Cupboard (211 Bronson Ave.). The walk begins at 1pm and will end at the Parkdlae United Church.

The walk is 2.5 km long, and maps will be provided at the starting point.

Agency tours will be offered so you can learn more about the important work we do.

Light refreshment will also be provided.

The walk-a-thon will also be supporting St. Luke’s Table, the Parkdale United Church, and the Dalhousie Food Cupboard.

Below is information regarding this wonderful event!

Walk-A-Thon-Poster

Walkathon event details sheet

Walkathon pledge sheet

July 18, 2016July 25, 2016

Branching Out Gala – Amazing success!

On Thursday June 23rd, we hosted our third annual Gala – Branching Out – at the GCTC. We were thrilled with the location which gave us more space for our amazing crowd to mix and mingle. The crowd was a great mix of donors, foodies, volunteers, Board Members, community supporters and some neighbours were thrilled to attend thanks to some tickets that were donated. Our goal was to raise $20,000 which would pay for two months of our summer grocery bills. We came tantalizingly close at $17,800. We were thrilled with the generosity of everyone who attended and are determined next year will be the year we break $20,000! Our shelves will be stocked over the summer months when we typically struggle to keep up with demand when many of our donors are away on summer vacations.

We couldn’t put on the event without the amazing generosity of our food and drink providers. Food stations by Absinthe, Allium, Bar Laurel, DISH, Holland’s Cake & Shake, Supply and Demand, Thyme & Again, and Urban Element. Folks were raving about the food all night.

Daniel Ramjattan brought his amazing Cuban guitar music. We also thank the crew at GCTC including Amelia and Catharine for being wonderful to work with. A special thanks to Sheila Whyte for donating a crew of amazing servers from Thyme & Again which kept the evening flowing perfectly.

Beyond the Pale generously provided an array of delicious local brews and guests enjoyed wine provided by Diamond Estate Winery c/o Liam Doody and Reif Estate Winery c/o Roger Linton/Linarc Consulting.

The Silent Auction tables upstairs and downstairs were busy with amazing prizes. Bidding was fierce! We were thrilled with the generosity of local business owners who provided great prizes to help us meet our fundraising target. The hottest prize of the night went to a Private Shopping Experience by Twiss & Weber followed closely by an amazing travel credit provided by VIA Rail. Other great prizes included donations from Gallery 3, Uproar Paint and Paper, Diane and Jen, and Escape Manor were just a few of the generous donors who provided prizes for the auction. We had many happy prize winners at the end of the night and a few folks regretting they hadn’t placed that last bid in time!

It was wonderful to have 13Muesli on hand to both give out samples during the evening and also hand out a bag as a thank you to all the party goers on the way out. They are close to wrapping up their year and we were bursting with pride to see their confidence in sharing with folks what the program has meant to them.

Our community helpers from Fisher Park Summit were there to greet folks at the door and also helped to raise enthusiasm at our Photo wall. These helpers volunteer regularly at our Centre and truly understand the various programs we offer our neighbours.

We were also happy to have a video crew lead by Roberta Bouchard with camera folks Ryan and Nick. We got some great clips of guests chatting about the Centre and please watch for a new video coming up where we share the thoughts out to you all.

The Photo wall was new for us. A way to share all the different programs we offer to our neighbours. It was also wonderful to read the many thoughtful responses to the questions of Parkdale is … , Food is…, Hunger is… and Community is….. . We took all the amazing responses and are planning to display them up on the walls of the Centre very soon.

When we look at how far this event has come in three years it is reflective of how far the Parkdale Food Centre has come. The supporters are many but the need remains. It’s our largest event of the year but we feel the community support. Thanks to all of you for letting us raise the funds we need to support your neighbours.

Until next year!

Photos below by JR Photography

Delicious creations from Chef Arup Jana of Allium

December 4, 2015June 27, 2017

We now accept donations of securities

The Parkdale Food Centre is happy to announce that we are now accepting donations of stocks and mutual funds. We have set up this new donation method because of requests from donors.

The reason most people are interested in giving securities is that the tax on capitals gains are now reduced to zero. Since June 2006 individuals can donate appreciated securities without paying any capital gains tax. You receive a tax receipt for the full value of the shares. This is more efficient than selling the securities and donating the cash proceeds.

We also are able to accept securities donations left to us by people in their wills. This allows you to reduce the tax burden on your estate.

To help visualize here is an example:

Mary paid $1,000 for shares in Corporation A. Because they are now worth $6,000, her capital gain is $5,000. By donating the shares to Parkdale Food Centre, she pays no capital gains tax. She receives a charitable donation receipt of $5,000, which she can apply against other income.

If you are interested in having a conversation with us about donating securities please email our Treasurer,france@parkdalefoodcentre.org. Alternatively you can call us and we’ll take it from there!

Our policy is to sell the shares as soon as we receive them. We then issue a tax receipt for the value of the proceeds – less any transaction fees.

October 25, 2015October 25, 2015

Help your neighbours through the Parkdale Food Centre this holiday season

As the holiday season and the end of the year approaches, we’re often asked about ways people can help our neighbours. So, we thought we would put together a couple of suggestions for those looking for ideas. Donations make an enormous difference to our programs and the support that we are able to offer the more than 700 people we help each month.

Make a Financial Donation
Financial donations are a great way to support the work that we do, and allow us to direct funds to the areas where they are most needed, or to specific programs (based on a donor’s request).

You can make a financial donation in a couple of ways:

Donate online through Canada Helps
Visit us to drop off a donation in person
Donate by mail by sending cheques to:

Parkdale Food Centre
2-30 Rosemount Ave
Ottawa, Ontario K1Y 1P4

Donate through the Reverse Food Truck
Our online Reverse Food Truck provides a variety of options for sponsorship and donations, from sponsoring a neighbour for a set period of time, giving a one time donation of the things we’re most in need of, supporting a specific program, or even a recurring donation. Donate online through the Reverse Food Truck today >>

Gift a Christmas Basket
Each year, we pair individuals or families in our community with individuals or families in need to give customized Christmas baskets – complete with small gifts and all of the fixings for Christmas Dinner. Interested in participating in our Christmas Basket program? Contact Karen by email to let her know you’re interested.

October 24, 2015

Good Things Come in Small Packages

We’ve all heard the saying “good things come in small packages” and, if you’ve had the good fortune to travel, either for work, or even better for pleasure, then you’ve probably encountered your fair share of tiny toiletries in hotel bathrooms. These could include shampoos, conditioners, bath gels or hand soaps- everyday items that many of us take for granted.

For our neighbours at the Parkdale Food Centre, these basic toiletries are often luxuries that are not a top priority, particularly when food is scarce, but they are very important for building a positive self image and strengthened self –esteem.

Pack and Go!
If you travel regularly and don’t use these small toiletries during your hotel stay, please consider popping them in your bag and collecting them for our neighbours at The Parkdale Food Centre. It’s a small action in isolation but if we pool our efforts, it can amount to something much bigger.

If you have friends or colleagues who travel regularly, consider inviting them to join us. If you are part of a book club, sports team or other community organization, consider inviting your group to get involved so you can multiply the results. After all, tiny only stays tiny for so long. With a little teamwork and some creativity, we can all make a difference.

The next time you hit the road, think about the “small packages” you can gather to bring some good to a neighbour’s day.

October 13, 2015October 13, 2015

Making Directed Donations Through the Government of Canada Workplace Charitable Campaign (GCWCC)

It’s time for the annual Government of Canada Workplace Charitable Campaign (GCWCC). Have you made your donation yet? Did you know that you can direct your donation to a registered charity of your choice, like the Parkdale Food Centre? Any Government of Canada employee that participates in the GCWCC can choose to direct their donations to a specific registered charity, like the PFC. Doing so is easy, and helps us receive stable funding throughout the year.

Read on below for step-by-step instructions. Making a directed donation is easy and can be done online through ePledge.

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To use ePledge, contact your office or team’s canvasser or GCWCC representative and they will give you login/access information. Payments can be made through payroll deduction, credit card, cheque, or cash.

Step 1: Once you’ve logged in, you will be asked to fill out your Pledge Type (one time, ongoing, etc) and then you will be asked to select your charity. To direct your donation to the Parkdale Food Centre, type our Registered Charity Number into the appropriate box: 889365003RR0001

Step 2: Click Search. The following screen will appear, indicating that it has found the Parkdale Food Centre, with a space to enter your donation amount.

Step 3: Once you’ve entered your amount, click Next and the confirmation page will appear:

This is where you designate the amount per deduction that you’d like to donate to the Parkdale Food Centre. Once you’ve input the amount click Add and then verify that everything is correct.

Follow the remaining steps and voila! You’ve successfully made a directed donation.

May 4, 2015May 4, 2015

How does our garden grow?

If you’ve walked by our location lately, you may have noticed the new octagon-shaped planter in front of 30 Rosemount Avenue. This is our new Octogarden and it’s part of our new on-site gardening initiative. Not only does our new location offer us better ways to connect with our clients, we also have the chance to grow fresh produce that can be given to clients, used in our cooking classes and provide a way to teach people about growing their own food.

We’ve got two new garden plots – in the back we have a small area that we’ll use to grow vegetables such as tomatoes, bean, peppers, cucumbers and out front in our Octogarden we’ll grow herbs and snackable veggies like green peas.

Thanks to a fantastic team of volunteers and donations of gardening materials from the Wellington St. Home Hardware, Tamarack Wellington, Taggart and many individuals we were able to get our gardens set up and ready for growing.

Along with providing us with fresh food, our hope is that these gardens will have many fantastic trickle-down effects for our clients and community including learning about growing food, relaxing with nature and connecting with one another.

Now we’re just waiting for planting season! We’ve got a great group of volunteers and clients who are excited to get growing with us. Many thanks to the community for their support with this initiative. We lo ok forward to showing of our garden through-out the year.

If you’d like to get involved, we’ve got some great opportunities for you:

Donate fresh vegetables from your garden. Register and learn more about our community gardening program.
Support our reverse food truck. Donate online in whatever way you want – support a cooking class, buy a crockpot, buy some milk, or a bag of food.
Stop by and visit our bright red van. The Parkdale Food Centre van will be out at community events and we’d love to meet you and accept your donations of vegetables, food and toiletries.

January 21, 2015January 23, 2015

Crowd-sourcing to get our Reverse Food Truck on the road!

Our dream at PFC is to have our own leased van. Many of our neighbours-in-need have mobility issues and would not receive food assistance without transportation to/from the Centre from our staff and volunteers . This becomes particularly essential during the winter. Staff and volunteers have also been using their own vehicles to collect large food donations, frequently from distant suburban or rural locations. In both cases, this results in poor or unreliable access to the Centre for our neighbours-in-need and food donors alike and makes program planning as well as delivery difficult.

We are very excited that the Taggart Parkes Foundation has given us a 3 year commitment to lease a van for PFC that would allow us to pick up our clients, take them to the Centre and back home again, as well as transport large food donations coming from a distance. We are also planning to potentially share the van with neighbouring food banks for similar purposes.

This van is also going to be a “reverse food truck,” accepting food donations at community events. This clever concept has already met with great success in a number of cities, and we had an opportunity this past summer to try this experiment ourselves with a food truck generously loaned by our community partner, Hintonburger. Based on the incredible response, we are now keen to manage our own reverse food truck. A van would make this possible and gives us a “vehicle” to collect community donations and engage the public about community food needs.

Now we need to raise the money to get this van on the road. We aren’t able to use the money donated to us for food to fund this project, so we have added some items to our Reverse Food Truck online in the hopes of raising the money we need through specific donations. Unless we can fund a $6,000 gap, we won’t be able to move forward with this project. The levels are:

Friend $25
Supporter $100
Patron $250 – name on the van (if you wish!)
Sponsor $500 – name and logo on the van (if you wish!)

If you could help us get this truck on the road we know it would make a difference to our neighbours in need. Check out the Reverse Food Truck online to donate at one of the levels above, and help raise enough money to cover the ongoing costs of the van.

Update [January 23, 2015] : WOW! After Karen spoke on CBC Ottawa Morning radio on January 22 to talk about our need to raise $6,000 to get the truck on the road, something amazing happened. That very morning a young local neighbourhood family called her up and then delivered a cheque for the entire amount in the afternoon. The Board met that evening and we are full steam ahead and very grateful to be able to move forward with the truck immediately. It will be popping up at events and being shared with other local organizations just as soon as we can order it and get it on the road. This is wonderful news for our neighbours in need with mobility issues. Receiving the entire amount we needed in less than 24 hours from the launch of the appeal is still causing us to stop and smile. What a wonderfully generous community we live in!

January 9, 2015

Our Good Food Box // Sponsoring a Neighbour

Groceries can be expensive and this is often the reason why people come to Parkdale Food Centre. Statistics Canada has indicated that the price of fresh vegetables from January to May of 2014 increased by 5.3% and that the cost of meat increased by 7.5% compared to 2.6% and 1.0% for the same products for the same period of time in 2013. That’s a lot.

To help alleviate the stress on our neighbours who want to cook with fresh fruits and vegetables, we’re asking people to sponsor a Good Food Box for a neighbour in need.

The Good Food Box is a non-profit, community based initiative that allows people to buy fresh fruits and vegetables at wholesale prices. It’s open to everyone in our community! Best of all, for as little as $10 you can provide almost a weeks’ worth of vegetables for a single person, or for just $20, buy a big box for a family. The prices are competitive and the produce is mostly local, seasonal and very fresh. You can learn more about the Good Food Box on their website: http://www.ottawagoodfoodbox.ca/?page_id=14.

If you don’t have time to volunteer with the PFC, or have difficulty donating fresh produce, this is an excellent way to make a big difference to someone or a family in need.

There are a two easy ways to sponsor Good Food Boxes:

Donate online through our reverse food truck at http://parkdalefood.reversefoodtruck.ca – you’ll get your tax receipt upon payment. There are options for single month or full year commitments.
Bring a cheque to PFC – please make sure you put the cheque in an envelope with the amount on it clearly stated. Provide your full address so we can issue you a tax receipt.

Every box counts and goes to one of our neighbours who really appreciate it. This is a great way to support local farmers, a local organisation, and a neighbour in need! We currently have a waiting list of people hoping to be sponsored. Since our main food that we give out is emergency food for 3-4 days, adding a Good Food Box on top of a regular order allows people to make it last throughout the month.

Category: Donate