Food Security
Be part of the change for food security.
Photography by Gabriel Ramos
Nobody should ever need to choose between paying a bill and buying food.
Unfortunately, that’s a reality for far too many people across London and Middlesex County. It’s beyond time that we have a sustainable, healthy food system that minimizes waste and ensures everyone is able to access the food they need, when they need it. From taking individual actions such as donating to food banks, to encouraging greater collaboration between food producers, local organizations, and municipalities, it is time to take action towards creating a city free of food insecurity.
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Expanding Food Security
So that nobody goes hungry.
Be the change in the fight for food security by working through these simple steps. Take the actions, read the blogs, dig into the statistics, or attend a Vital Conversation event; each step you take will make a difference.
Amplify
Follow, engage with, and share the causes and organizations that you’re passionate about on social media. Help spread their message throughout your personal networks.
Use Your Voice
Speak up when faced with opinions or structures that perpetuate inequality and prevent people from accessing the food they need, when they need it. Ask elected officials, or candidates how they’re fighting to expand food security. Ready to write to an elected official? You can reference this template to guide your communication.
Show up
Find and attend local events, meetings, debates or marches that allow you to show your support by standing alongside those impacted by the issues firsthand. Showing up in solidarity with those who have lived experience as an ally and a supporter can help advance real change. Make signs, tell friends, and show up.
Share Your Resources and Time
Reach out, connect and support local organizations working to create a city where nobody goes hungry. Donations and volunteer time are needed to help make change. Click here to see our full guide of local organizations and find one that you’d like to support.
And stay in touch! Be the Change will be sharing additional, tangible actions that will make a difference in the lives of members of our community. Sign up for our special email list to be kept in the loop.
Know your Numbers
The London Food Bank reports their record for monthly visits has been broken three times in a four month period (September, 2022). August 2022 visits to the London Food Bank have increased 38% from August 2021 (2,979 to 4,121). Moreover, 51% more people are using food banks now than were in 2020 - that’s 1 in 3 food bank users.
Indigenous Peoples across Canada face specific and unique issues pertaining to food security. Traditional food consumption has been severely impacted by colonial policies. In addition, due to high rates of poverty and housing insecurity, there is a lack of access to traditional foods. Southwest Ontario Aboriginal Access Centre (SOAHAC), has reported a 470% increase in clients reporting food insecurity to their health care provider from 2018 to 2021. According to SOAHAC’s Our Health Counts report, 89% of Indigenous adults in London would prefer eating more traditional or country food than what they currently eat and only 22% always had enough of the kinds of food they wanted to eat.
Increases in visits to the London Food Bank
This bar chart represents the rise in visits to the London Food Bank between 2021 and 2022. There are two bars. The bar on the left represents the year 2021, and the bar on the right represents the year 2022. There is a rising arrow between the bars, showing a 38% increase in visits to the London Food Bank
Want to dive deeper into the issue of food security in London and Middlesex County?
Check out our London Vital Signs Data Hub for more data.
We recognize that we have blindspots; if we’ve missed an important message or if you’re aware of a statistic that has changed, please contact us and let us know.
London Leaders
There is so much knowledge in our community. This is a city full of activists, movement leaders, changemakers and lived experience experts and there is so much more to learn from them. Many are sharing their perspective on what’s next and building on the call for each of us to Be the Change.
Explore the diverse perspectives that provoke new thinking:
Conversations
You’ve Taken Action.
But Don’t Stop There.
Change happens when people come together. Encourage those around you to take action. To help, we’ve designed these downloadable graphics that you can share on your own social media.
Click on the image to download.
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