Starting Online — A Sandwich, Water & Building From There

The Not Just A Food Program has different ways for people to connect with our efforts. For those beginning with us online, we keep the starting point simple.

Our first priority is helping with basic food and hydration needs.

🥪 A basic sandwich
💧 A bottle of water
🍎 A snack when available

For individuals receiving delivery support, a time and location are arranged and confirmed in advance.

That is where we start.

From there, support can grow based on available resources, individual needs, participation and one of the most important parts of everything we do:

Mutual respect.

🥪 We Start With Basic Needs

When someone reaches out online because they are experiencing food insecurity, we don't begin by promising everything we may eventually be able to provide.

We start with the basics.

Our first priority is a sandwich and a bottle of water. When snacks or additional supplies are available, we may include those as well.

We are currently a 100% volunteer and donation-based effort, so supplies can change from week to week.

We let individuals know what we have available and ask something simple:

Please only take what you will actually use.

If you don't need something, leave it for someone who does.

That reduces waste and allows limited donations to support more people.

🧼 Food Safety Is Part of Caring

All sandwiches distributed through our program are prepared in an approved food-preparation space/kitchen that meets the requirements we follow through the Durham Region Health Department.

We do not accept sandwiches prepared in private homes or other spaces that do not meet the food-safety requirements for our program.

That means you cannot simply make sandwiches at home and donate them for us to distribute.

We appreciate people wanting to help, but protecting the health and safety of the people receiving food has to come first.

Following proper food-handling requirements isn't unnecessary red tape to us.

It is the responsible, loving and compassionate thing to do.

Someone receiving free food deserves the same consideration for their health and safety as anyone else.

🍞 Bread Helps Us Build the Next Level of Support

Bread is one of our largest regular donations, with supplies generally arriving every two weeks.

That gives us opportunities to move beyond providing only one prepared sandwich.

One of the first regular additions we may offer is a loaf or two of bread along with available supplies for an individual to make their own sandwiches for the week.

Instead of addressing one meal, we can begin helping someone create food options for several days.

From there, support can continue to grow based on available donations, individual circumstances and the relationship we develop together.

🤝 Respect Is How Support Grows

We don't measure respect by whether someone agrees with us about everything.

For our program, respect includes practical things:

Communicate with us.
Be there for confirmed deliveries.
Only request items you will actually use.
Respect volunteers and other participants.
Respect donated resources.
Be truthful about what you need.

Every delivery represents someone's time and someone's contribution.

Our deliveries are planned and confirmed in advance. We expect the individual receiving that delivery to be there to accept it.

We understand that unexpected situations happen.

But repeated missed deliveries without reasonable communication become a pattern.

We have removed individuals from the program for repeatedly failing to meet this basic requirement.

Our volunteers' time matters too.

🚫 We Never Leave Food Unattended

We have another very clear rule:

We never leave food unattended.

Food will not be left outside a door, in a hallway, on a porch or somewhere else for someone to collect later.

This is part of our commitment to food safety and responsible distribution.

If we arrange a delivery, someone needs to be there to personally receive it.

🧴 Hygiene & Personal-Care Support Can Be Added

As relationships develop and resources allow, support can extend beyond food.

That can include available hygiene and personal-care items and other practical supplies that contribute to health, dignity and wellness.

These resources are limited too.

Our goal is to prioritize additional support for individuals who want opportunities for better health and wellness.

We aren't interested in simply handing someone everything we have because it happens to be free.

We want to understand:

What do you actually need?

Then we can look at what resources are available and determine how we may be able to help.

⚠️ This Is Support — Not Simply a Way to Save Money

The Not Just A Food Program isn't intended to be a place where someone collects as many free groceries, snacks, hygiene products and other supplies as possible simply to reduce their regular expenses.

We are here to assist with genuine needs and create opportunities for ongoing and improving support.

We have encountered situations where patterns raised concerns that program resources were being used primarily to free up personal money for alcohol, drugs or other non-essential spending.

We cannot always know how someone spends their money, and we are not here to police people's lives or make assumptions.

But we do pay attention to how our donated resources are being used.

If someone consistently takes everything offered regardless of whether they need it, wastes supplies, repeatedly focuses only on certain non-essential items or demonstrates other patterns suggesting the program is being treated simply as a source of free goods, we may address it.

If those patterns continue, additional support may be limited or participation may end.

We have a responsibility to the people receiving support and to those donating the resources that make it possible.

🌱 Health & Wellness Are Part of the Bigger Picture

We believe addressing hunger is important, but we also believe health and wellness should be a priority.

Nutrition can affect overall health and wellness, and we want to encourage individuals to learn more about food, nutrition and how their choices may affect them.

We don't force that education on anyone.

It is an invitation.

Some people may simply want basic food support.

That's okay.

Others may want healthier options, help with hygiene needs, opportunities to learn about nutrition or the ability to grow some of their own food.

For those wanting to take those steps, we want to create more opportunities.

🌿 FIFE — Learning to Grow Your Own Nutrition

Through FIFE — Food Is For Everyone, we are developing opportunities to learn practical skills such as growing your own nutrition indoors, year-round and in small spaces.

These efforts connect with our hopes for Wellness Without Barriers Oshawa — creating more opportunities for people to learn practical health and wellness skills together and have access to resources and equipment that may otherwise be difficult to access.

The goal isn't to tell people how they must live.

The goal is to give people knowledge, skills and opportunities they can choose to use.

📚 Lunch & Learn — Learning Together as a Community

Another important part of our efforts is our Lunch & Learn events.

These events aren't only for individuals receiving assistance through the Not Just A Food Program.

They are opportunities for our entire community.

Someone attending might currently be living rough and looking for practical information that could make daily life a little safer or easier.

Sitting beside them might be a volunteer who wants to better understand the challenges people are experiencing.

There could also be a community member who simply saw the topic and thought:

"I'd like to learn more about that."

All are welcome.

And once we are together, everyone is treated the same.

There isn't one set of expectations for someone experiencing homelessness and another for someone who arrived as a volunteer.

There isn't a special status because someone donated supplies.

There isn't a different standard because someone is receiving assistance.

At a Lunch & Learn, we are people learning together.

The same expectation applies to everyone:

Respect.

Respect the person teaching.

Respect the person asking questions.

Respect different experiences and perspectives.

Respect the space.

Respect the volunteers.

And most importantly, respect each other.

Our Lunch & Learn topics can vary greatly depending on community needs, available knowledge and opportunities.

Some may focus on practical skills for people living outdoors.

Others may explore food, nutrition, indoor growing, health and wellness, community resources or other useful skills.

The topic may bring people through the door for different reasons.

Learning brings us together.

🍎 We Pay Attention to How Resources Are Used

Sometimes we receive sweets, snack foods and other less nutritious items.

There is nothing wrong with enjoying them.

But if someone repeatedly wants only sweets, snack foods and similar items while refusing available basic or more nutritious food, we may address that pattern.

Our purpose isn't to provide an unlimited supply of free snacks.

Our first responsibility is helping address basic food needs.

From there, we want to create better options for individuals interested in improving their nutrition, health and wellness.

🥕 Different Dietary Needs Deserve Respect

Some individuals may be vegetarian or vegan. Others may have allergies, intolerances, cultural considerations or other dietary requirements.

Those needs deserve to be heard.

We may not personally follow those diets, and because of that, it isn't our place to decide another person's needs aren't legitimate simply because they differ from our own.

When resources allow, we will try to find suitable options.

We cannot promise every dietary-specific item will always be available, but we can listen, learn and try to work together.

❤️ Start With a Sandwich. Build Through Respect.

For someone seeking assistance online, it starts simply:

🥪 A sandwich
💧 A bottle of water
🍎 A snack when available

From there, individual support may grow to include:

🍞 Bread and available sandwich-making supplies
📦 Additional food and useful supplies
🥕 Dietary-specific or more nutritious options
🧴 Hygiene and personal-care items
🌿 Nutrition and growing education
🌱 Additional health and wellness opportunities

But the Not Just A Food Program is also about something bigger.

It's about bringing people together.

That is where opportunities such as Lunch & Learn become important.

You don't have to be experiencing food insecurity to learn with us.

You don't have to be living rough.

You don't have to be a volunteer.

You don't have to be receiving anything from the program.

You can simply be a member of our community who wants to learn.

Come for lunch.

Come to learn.

Come to share knowledge.

Come to better understand someone else's experience.

Whatever brought you there, the expectations remain the same.

Respect. Communication. Responsibility. Compassion.

We are currently a 100% volunteer and donation-based effort, and we have a responsibility to make every resource entrusted to us accomplish as much as possible.

We start with basic needs.

We create opportunities to learn.

We encourage better health and wellness.

And when there is mutual respect, we build from there.

Because this is Not Just A Food Program.

LIFE — Love Is For Everyone.
FIFE — Food Is For Everyone.