The holidays are right around the corner, but what do you get the person who has everything? Why not gift them with the gift of, well… giving. Feed the Need Durham is the regional food distribution warehouse serving Durham Region. They provide the food necessary to keep emergency food providers such as food banks, soup kitchens, community service centres, shelters, drop-in centres and breakfast feeding programs going. This holiday season (and any other time of year) you can partner with them to give the gift of food. Honour your loved ones by making a donation in their name. As a gift, your friends and family will receive a letter from Feed the Need informing them of your generous act on their behalf, a charitable tax receipt and a certificate. Not just for Christmas, it’s a thoughtful act for birthdays, Valentine’s Day and weddings.
Looking to get involved in a more hands on way? You can apply to be a volunteer here. Having worked with Feed the Need to develop a few social enterprise capacity workshops for its board members, Eco-Ethonomics has seen up close the passion and work ethic that makes operating this 10,000sqft warehouse possible. It makes the difference between whether a family gets to enjoy the holidays or not and that alone is immeasurable.
Always driven, Ben Earle, Executive Director of Feed the Need Durham, is probably most proud of his work this time of year, but with that being said, there is still so much that Feed the Need wants to achieve, including moving into the social enterprise space. “Eco-Ethonomics taught us that social enterprises don’t need to be complicated. The best ideas focus on the infrastructure and skills that your organization already has in place. In the new year we are hoping to start looking at ways to get local food into low income neighbourhoods in Durham, but we’re in the early stages.” Is your organization also looking to get into the social enterprise space? Then Ben’s got a holiday gift for you, a little advice. “Be open, a lot of the rules people tell you to follow are rooted in outdated concepts of economy and infrastructure. Focus on innovation, we need new solutions, new ways of thinking, to really tackle old problems, that’s what we are trying to do, and I think that’s what Eco-Ethonomics is trying to do too.”
If you would like to donate food, visit Feed the Need Durham at 371a Marwood Drive in Oshawa. Cash donations are also accepted online.
If you would like to find out how Eco-Ethonomics can help your organization move into the social enterprise space send an email to [email protected].