Thanksgiving a time to celebrate, and support, food plenty

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As we slide our turkeys in the oven and give thanks for food and family, not everyone has the luxury of a gourmet Thanksgiving feast. Now more than ever, with the current economic climate hurting those in need, we can’t take our food supply for granted.

Food Secure Canada, which for 21 years has built an alliance of organizations that aim to advance food sovereignty in the country, reminds us why individuals with money to spare should consider giving to their communities at this time of family and reflection.

The alliance has long relied on gaining strength from generous funding from foundations like the Lawson Foundation, J.T. Clark Family Foundation, and the J.W. McDonnell Family Foundation. One of Food Secure Canada’s major supporters over the past year, Clif Family Foundation, also shares with our readers how they came to be involved in Canada’s food philanthropy network, and why it is so important to help those who are suffering during these uncertain times.

Food Secure Canada

Afua Asantewaa, Communities Convenor

How was Food Secure Canada established?

Food Secure Canada was born out of a conference in Toronto in 2001, where individuals and civil society organizations from every province and territory met to tackle the challenge of food security both at home and abroad. Farmer organisations, food banks, community organisations, academics, Indigenous leaders, health professionals, policymakers and others were part of this founding gathering.”

How do you connect community outreach groups to people in need?

“FSC is a broad coalition, including many organisations working directly in communities to tackle food insecurity and many other challenges related to the food system. For example, Food Secure Canada hosts the Coalition for Healthy School Food, which includes organisations working to assure that every child in Canada has access to a healthy meal every day no matter what the economic situation of their parents.

“Working with food organizations has anchored our understanding that to transform the food system, we need to strengthen the work being done on the ground in communities across Canada and encourage the growth of similar initiatives.

“One of our aims is to ensure food actors have greater capacity, tools, and knowledge to continue serving their communities and to develop healthy and sustainable local food systems. For example, through our Eat Think Vote campaign, we work with communities ahead of federal elections to influence policy.

“We equip local organizations across the country to host events that bring together community members and federal candidates to discuss food insecurity, food sovereignty, and all intersecting issues. This campaign has played an integral role in empowering Canadians from all sectors and food organizations to engage in the policy solutions that directly affect them.”

Why is supporting underprivileged people and communities important to your organization?

“Food affordability is a major and growing concern in Canada and worldwide, harshly felt by those experiencing poverty. Retail food prices are rising, in Canada and globally, because of many factors including war, supply chain disruptions, escalating climate change impacts, price-fixing and corporate misuse of monopoly power.

“Consequently, food insecurity is persistently high in Canada, disproportionately affecting people and communities made vulnerable by multiple and overlapping inequities. Anti-Black racism and the continuing impacts of colonization mean that Indigenous and Black communities are disproportionately affected by food insecurity. Black households are 3.5 times more likely to be food insecure than white households, and almost half of all First Nations families are food insecure.

Along the food chain, despite the growing cost of food, small farmers, and workers, who are the primary producers of the world’s food are indebted and or badly paid with often dangerous working conditions and job insecurity. It should come as no surprise that these voices are often unheard, perpetuating inequity and poorly designed responses.

Across Canada, citizens, municipalities, community organizations, and many other stakeholders are taking up these challenges with innovative approaches. The profusion of community initiatives to build sustainable and inclusive food systems, Black and Indigenous food sovereignty initiatives, agricultural land trusts and school food initiatives are only a few examples of the dynamism of the food movement.”

Why is support from foundations like the McConnell Foundation, the Clif Family Foundation and others so important?

“FSC has accomplished great things due to strong partnership and relationships with a vast number of food leaders, organizations and allies from across Canada, providing a platform and process through which the food movement unites to affect federal food policy, programs and discourse. FSC’s work over the previous 20 years directly contributed to the creation of the Food Policy for Canada (2019) and the establishment of the Canadian Food Policy Advisory Committee (2021). The FSC-led Coalition for Healthy School Food has been instrumental in advancing policy and funding to establish a National School Food Program.”

Nancy Neamtan, Food Secure Canada Board Member

Do you have a message for philanthropists as we approach Canadian Thanksgiving?

“Our starting point is that food is a basic human right. Philanthropists, charities, and community groups offer important temporary help and immediate alleviation of hunger. But we know these generous efforts don’t reach most of the people who are hungry in Canada, and the effects are unfortunately not long-lasting.

“More and more funders in the philanthropic community agree that it is essential to not only feed the hungry, but to rethink the way we, as a country, produce, transform, distribute and consume. That is why we focus both on the role of governments but also on building alternatives and supporting communities across the country that are working together to build viable and sustainable food systems for all.

“We invite those who want to take their philanthropic initiatives further to support organizations that work towards advocating for public policies at the federal level to eliminate food insecurity as well as supporting local, just, and sustainable food systems. Beyond philanthropy, you can contact your MPP and your MP to implore them to push for policies and initiatives to eliminate poverty and food insecurity and notably to make good on the federal government’s commitment to invest in school food.”

Clif Family Foundation

Thao Pham, Executive Director

How did the Clif Family Foundation come to be?

“Clif Family Foundation was born in 2006 from the philanthropic vision of Gary Erickson and Kit Crawford, founders of Clif Bar & Company, a leading organic food company. The Foundation supports small- to mid-sized grassroots organizations that work tirelessly to strengthen the food system, safeguard the environment and natural resources, and enhance community health.”

“Gary and Kit have always had a strong desire to leave the world a better place for our children. Now, as grandparents, the urgency to build a healthier, just and sustainable world is even more personal for them.”

“Clif Family Foundation awarded its first grants beyond the U.S. in Canada in 2018, supporting non-profits that promote ecological agriculture as a dynamic response to climate change.”

Why was the connection to community and philanthropy important to establishing the foundation?

“When Gary Erickson and Kit Crawford established Clif Bar & Company in 1992, they wanted to run a different kind of business –one dedicated to something more than just the traditional fiscal bottom line. That vision ultimately grew into the creation of Five Aspirations, or Five Bottom Lines, aligned around sustainability, that directed the company’s approach to business: Sustaining Our Business, Brands, People, Communities and the Planet.”

“Gary and Kit believe that businesses have a responsibility to the communities in which they operate, and to listen closely to the people in those communities because they know best their own needs and challenges.”

“So, when Gary and Kit established the Clif Family Foundation in 2006, they had long appreciated the connection between philanthropy and community. The Foundation operates with the belief that much of the nation’s innovation and new generation of leaders will spring from grassroots organizations working day-to-day, on the ground in local communities.”

How did you form a connection with Canada?

“Clif Family Foundation’s connection to Canada can be traced back to Clif Bar & Company, which has years of experience with Canadian farmers who grow organic oats the company uses in its products and bars and the growing number of Canadians who enjoy Clif foods.”

“Clif Family Foundation awarded its first Canadian grants in 2018, supporting our two priority areas: strengthening food systems and safeguarding our environment and natural resources. We have made grants to Canadian non-profits working on food security; advancing a more just food system, promoting ecological agriculture as an answer to climate change; and safeguarding wild salmon, freshwater supplies and marine habitats.”

Why is supporting Food Secure Canada important to your foundation?

“Food Secure Canada (FSC) is a Montreal-based alliance of organizations and individuals working together to advance food security and food sovereignty. Its vision of a just, healthy and sustainable food system honoring our relationship to the earth and each other aligns closely with the Clif Family Foundation’s Canadian priorities: strengthening food systems and safeguarding our environment and natural resources.

“We admire FSC’s focus on strengthening the Canadian movement for healthy, just and sustainable food systems by mobilizing support for aligning Canadian food policy with UN Sustainable Development Goals, building local sustainable food networks (with emphasis on underserved Indigenous and other minority communities that have the most to lose from the impacts of climate change), and creating resources for closing the gap in civil society participation in food system decision making.”

Do you have a message for philanthropists as we approach Canadian Thanksgiving?

“Canadian Thanksgiving is a joyous time for many Canadians to gather with family, mark the start of autumn and celebrate the harvest and good food of the season. Thanksgiving dinner is often a plentiful bounty of traditional foods.

“At the same time, it’s incumbent upon all of us to remember that an estimated 5.8 million Canadians, including 1.4 million children, lived in food-insecure households. The people in food-insecure homes may lack the money to buy quality food or even enough food to avoid missing meals and going hungry.

“That’s why enhanced philanthropic initiatives during the Thanksgiving season can play such a meaningful and immediate role in improving lives. We invite foundations and individuals to join us in supporting Food Secure Canada, a pan-Canadian alliance of organizations and individuals who are fighting hunger and working for healthy and sustainable food for all; or other groups addressing Canada’s need for a more just, healthy and sustainable food system for everyone.”

Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.

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