Our Vision, Mission, and Values

Vision

At the Parkdale Food Centre, we believe in an Ottawa where everyone has the means and opportunity to live a healthy, connected, and fulfilling life.

Mission

To build healthier, more connected Neighbours and neighbourhoods through good food, innovative community partnerships, and by challenging inequalities in order to create lasting impacts.

Values

Nutritious, wholesome food is a basic human right, and is fundamental to building positive physical, mental, and emotional health.
Everyone, regardless of their economic means, age, gender, abilities, or ethnicity, deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.
A physically and emotionally safe environment is key to building strong communities.
Positive social change happens one person at a time.
Partnerships create strong communities.
It is our responsibility to challenge inequalities and raise awareness.
Creativity and innovation are to be encouraged and embraced.
Engaged staff and volunteers are vital to our success
Being a leader, and encouraging leadership in others, will create momentum and growth.

Our Programs

Welcome to Parkdale Food Centre, where we believe nutritious food is a human right.

Good food has the power to nourish not only our bodies but also our communities.

Located in the heart of Hintonburg, Parkdale Food Centre takes a holistic approach to tackling the complex issue of food insecurity. We understand that food insecurity is multifaceted and our programs are designed to equip, inspire and empower individuals, enabling our community to address the root cause of food insecurity, poverty.

Community Kitchen

Parkdale Food Centre’s community kitchen is the heart of our work, a space where people gather to cook, make friends, build confidence, and share meals with their Neighbours to address local food insecurity and isolation. Each week, the kitchen hosts three community meals, while also providing meals for youth pariticipating in the Solutionary Crew and Thirteen, as well as for the Grocery Program at Mino’Weesini.

Our kitchen is also a powerful space for other organizations and groups to share creative contributions in a participatory way. Over the course of the year, the kitchen welcomes many groups to prepare delicious nourishing meals, while engaging in thoughtful conversations about food as a human right and how to be agents of change.

Recipes For Change targets workplace groups in particular, bringing coworkers together to collaboratively prepare a meal with our chefs while discussing their roles in the broader food system. Facilitated discussions about food insecurity guide these workshops while encouraging participants to explore how we can reshape food charity paradigms.

Mino’Weesini

We believe in an Ottawa where everyone has the means and opportunity to live a healthy, connected and fulfilling life.

Mino’Weesini, our catchment-based grocery program, offers an in-store experience that centers the agency of our Neighbours utilizing this service.

Unlike a traditional food bank where beneficiaries are handed pre-selected pantry items, Parkdale Food Centre Neighbours shop like you would at a grocery store, choosing what they need or don’t need for their families.

Advocacy

All of the Parkdale Food Centre’s programming is rooted in advocacy.
Neighbours arrive at Parkdale Food Centre for many reasons and we want to ensure everyone has the opportunity to sit at our table and be heard.
Whether someone is coming in to have a coffee with another Neighbour, picking up produce from our community fridge or seeking access to wrap-around support, our Community Advocacy Office is open to equip and empower Neighbours to gain information and referrals, navigate the social service system and just to have a space to talk about one’s challenges and objectives.

Thirteen

Thirteen is Parkdale Food Centre’s youth-run social enterprise and employment training program.

Thirteen empowers youth with hands-on experience in running a business. From crafting the perfect spice blend to marketing and sales, our program equips our youth participants with the skills needed to thrive as entrepreneurs.

Growing Futures

We believe our youth have the power to tackle complex community issues head-on.

Growing Futures brings young minds together to collaborate, challenge and encourage one another to discover their voice and harness their power as advocates for change.

Protecting Your Information

Our Commitment to Privacy

The Parkdale Food Centre is committed to protecting the privacy of the personal information of our donors, prospective donors, board members, program participants, staff, volunteers, and other stakeholders in accordance with existing federal and provincial government privacy legislation. We have established privacy practices for this purpose.

What is personal information?

“Personal information” includes information about an identifiable individual, including race, ethnic origin or colour, age, marital status, religion, education, medical, criminal, employment or financial history, address and telephone number, numerical identifiers such as Social Insurance Number, and views and personal opinions. Business contact information and certain publicly-available information, such as names, addresses, and telephone numbers as published in telephone directories, are not considered personal information.

Information in the public domain is not subject to privacy legislation and as such is not included in this policy. We consider donor information, volunteer information and program participant information to always be personal information, and do not disclose information about donors, volunteers or program participants without consent.

What personal information do we collect?

We collect and maintain different types of personal information about individuals with whom we interact in order to administer and manage a supporter-charity relationship and to evaluate the efficacy of our programs.

This includes:

Contact and identification information, such as your name, address, telephone number, mobile number, and email address.
Donation information, such as date of gift, amount of gift, appeal (the campaign to which you contributed), name of spouse or partner if it was a joint gift, and receipt number.
Financial information, such as your payment methods and preferences, billing and banking information (credit card number and expiry date or chequing account transit numbers, whichever payment type you prefer in order to process your donation).
Demographic information, such as race, ethnicity, gender, age, education, profession, occupation, income level, and marital status.

Why do we collect personal information?

The Parkdale Food centre collects, uses, and discloses personal information from our donors to process their donations, provide tax receipts, direct their gifts in the manner in which they choose, keep them informed about gift-giving opportunities and other activities, and comply with federal and provincial legal and regulatory guidelines and reporting requirements.

The Parkdale Food Centre collects, uses and discloses information from our program participants to measure and evaluate the success of our programs. We use our data to report our progress to our funders and donors. Information from our studies is also used internally to enhance and/or improve our programming.

How do we obtain your consent?

We obtain your consent for collecting, using, and disclosing personal information for the identified purposes before such information is collected for the first time. Consent can be either express or implied and can be provided directly by the individual or by an authorized representative. Express consent can be given orally, electronically, or in writing. Implied consent is consent that can reasonably be inferred from an individual’s action or inaction. Once this consent has been obtained, we do not seek your consent again, unless the purpose, use, or disclosure of your personal information changes.

How do we control and protect your personal information?

We only collect and use personal information that is necessary for the intended purpose. We keep your information for only as long as necessary, and maintain its confidentiality when it is destroyed. We make sure that your personal information is kept accurate, complete, and up-to-date. We protect your information from unauthorized access or use through physical and electronic security safeguards and limit access to only authorized persons and only when necessary. Essentially, this means that personal information is protected:

Physically, by building security measures and physical barriers.
Organizationally, by our policies, procedures, and access levels.
Technologically, by, for example, where appropriate, the use of passwords, encryption, firewalls, and anti-virus software.

Access to donor, financial, program participant, and volunteer records is limited to those who require such information to fulfil their job responsibilities. Special protection is given to all records pertaining to anonymous donors. The confidentiality of donor, volunteer, and program participant records continues after the relationship with the individual has ended.

How can you be sure that your personal information is accurate?

Upon written request and with reasonable notice, you can access your own personal information, challenge its completeness and accuracy, and seek to have it amended.