Yesterday morning I walked past St. Philip’s Pantry on King Street West at about 7am, and stopped to scratch my head because there was a Global TV van parked in the curb lane. They had claimed a prime spot for the 10am press conference where it was announced that Parkdale’s only food bank would be closing down.

During the press conference, local politicians were on hand to announce that they had collectively raised enough money out of their own pockets to keep St. Philip’s Pantry open until Christmas; the generous donations from MP Peggy Nash, MPP Cheri DiNovo and councillor Gord Perks totaled $2000.

But this little food bank needs more than that to stay afloat. For the past 20 years, St. Philips Pantry has been run by nearby Holy Family Church, but with operating costs of $33,000 a year, that figure has become unsustainable for the church to maintain. Rent alone is $2,000 per month.

St. Philips serves over 3,000 people a month, many of whom are ill or elderly and who would have to travel to Dundas and Roncesvalles if this Parkdale icon shut down.

The Daily Bread Food Bank supplies food to St. Philip’s and has stated that they will provide short-term financial support to keep the Pantry open beyond Christmas. They’ve also agreed to work with the community to find a solution to keep St. Philip’s open permanently.
We are asking Taste T.O. readers to please make a donation to help save St. Philip’s Pantry. If every one of the 18,000 readers who visit our site each month donated $10, we would be able to keep the food bank running for five years!!

Please send whatever you can spare to:

St. Francis Table
1322 Queen Street West
Toronto, ON, M6K 1L4

write in memo field - “Save Our Parkdale Foodbank”

addendum: check out the Save Our Parkdale Foodbank blog or join the community on Facebook

And on a related note, The LCBO has announced today that they will be donating 25 cents from the sale of every bottle of Ontario VQA wine to the Ontario Association of Food Banks. The “Buy Local, Share Local” campaign is designed to support both local Ontario wine producers and direct much-needed funds to Ontario’s food banks. With the many great Ontario wines available, we encourage our readers to support Ontario’s wine industry this holiday season and help out the province’s food banks as well.