About
Who We Are
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Guelph Food Bank (GFB) was established by Spiritwind Christian Centre in 1989 to accomplish one major goal: To help those in our community who are in need of food support while encouraging them to become self-sufficient by supporting them with our various life skills programs.
What We Do
Simply put, we provide food relief for those in need.
No one ever plans to need services such as a Food Bank until they do. The reality is that many in our community just don’t have the means to get by.
The decline in jobs that pay a living wage and employer pensions benefits, loss of jobs due to lay-offs and increases in interest rates, mean that many of our neighbours are unable to get the basic necessities for their families.
We provide emergency food supports to individuals faced with any form of financial hardships. We also work with and support other similarly aligned charities and non-profit organizations working to alleviate the effects of poverty. (For more information, visit Feed Ontario).
Why We Do It
In a world that produces enough food to feed everyone, nobody should be going hungry, but hunger for many is an unfortunate reality. We aim to alleviate these effects by connecting those in need with supplemental food supports that might otherwise be out of reach.
Food Procurement
In addition to the food collected in our blue bins located around the city in participating stores and businesses, we also rely on our reclamation partners, who help us keep our shelves loaded and our fridges and freezers full in support of our various food and distribution partners.
Our procurement partners include:
Buns Master
Cobs Bakery
Costco
Edible Arrangements
Farm Boy
Food Basics
Metro
FreshCo
Giant Tiger
Goodness Me
Great Canadian Bagel
Longos
Market Fresh
Zehrs
No Frills
Planet Bean
Shoppers Drug Mart
Tim Hortons
Walmart
Well.ca
Food Programs & Distribution
For more than 30 years, the core focus of the Guelph Food Bank (GFB) has been to ensure everyone in this community has access to the foods they need to thrive. We have evolved over the years to change our services to best suit those needs; from our original hamper program, to our choice driven shopping model, to our current modifed shopping model.
For more than 30 years, the core focus of the Guelph Food Bank (GFB) has been to ensure everyone in this community has access to the foods they need to thrive. We have evolved over the years to change our services to best suit those needs, from our original hamper program to our choice-driven shopping model, to our current modified shopping model.
For more than 30 years, the core focus of the Guelph Food Bank (GFB) has been to ensure everyone in this community has access to the foods they need to thrive. We have evolved over the years to change our services to best suit those needs; from our original hamper program, to our choice driven shopping model, to our current modifed shopping model.
GFB is committed to continually evolving to serve the needs of our clients best. We rely on the support of our community through food drives, ongoing bin collections in stores, direct recovery from manufacturers & distributors, and through our affiliations as the local member of Feed Ontario and a affiliate member of Food Banks Canada.
Agency Distribution Program
Guelph Food Bank proudly supports other local member agencies through monthly food offers to help offset food-related program costs.
Guelph Food Bank works closely with nearby Feed Ontario neighbours by cross-docking for smaller organizations and as a member of the Food Bank of Waterloo Regions FBDS program.
Current Member Agencies include:
Neighbourhood Group
Modified Shopping Model
Those seeking emergency food assistance will first be directed to the closest satellite or service based on their postal code. Those still matched with our location can access our services Monday through Friday between 9am and 11:45am without an appointment.
Single individuals are allowed access twice a month; families are allowed access once a month. Upon visiting, you will receive a pre-filled hamper of non-perishable staples, as well as a variety of fresh produce, breads, eggs, and milk, depending on availability.
Community Food Hub
Guelph Food Bank proudly supports other local member agencies through monthly food offers to help offset food-related program costs.
Current Member Agencies include:
Community Excess Program
GFB continuously works to expand its community supports by providing additional excess foods to non-member food agencies. So far, more than 27 agencies with 45+ locations have been helped through this program.
Farmer Program
GFB actively works to reduce the wastage of food within our community at all levels, including our own post reclamation waste. To do so, we partner with local farmers who are able to use foods beyond their human consumption life to feed their cattle, pigs, or turn to compost, etc.
Location & Hours
Client Access Hours:
Client food pick up is 9am - 11:45am Monday through Friday
(no weekends or stat holidays)
Office Hours:
9am - 4pm
Monday through Friday
