Oasis Dufferin Community Centre
1219 Dufferin St. M6H 4C2 Toronto, ON, Canada

Make Sure there is Enough for a Hundred! Today the Toronto Star reported on food banks breaking all records: https://www.thestar.com//food-bank-visits-were-already-up/. That has certainly been our experience. For the past two weeks we have served over 200 families, well above our pre-pandemic record. I was speaking with our food foreman, Harry. He reminded me that a year ago I was pressing him to make sure that we conserved our fresh fruit and vegetables so that we enough to serve a hundred patrons. I had to laugh. I had forgotten those conversations. That was a world ago. Fortunately we have been receiving more food most weeks and have been able to serve over 200 with no one getting none.

Great Timing Last week for the first time in a while we needed to go shopping for non-perishable food. Our regular suppliers were beginning to have difficulty keeping up with the increasing demand. However, since then a number of friends and community groups have made unexpected donations. To give just one example, Hudson College up the streed had a food drive and wanted to give the generous outpouring to a local food bank. The attached pictures only shows some of the items brought to Oasis. (Some of the donations, especially perishables, had already been stored away.) Thanks everyone including Hudson College.

Another Successful Transition He came down the street with his bright orange hat on. The smile on his face was infectious. I had not seen him for some months. As is often the case, I wondered what the story was behind his disappearance. Often I never hear. I was about to find out. He had been recalled from layoff. He was working regularly again. He handed me an envelope stuffed with bills. He wanted to thank me for being supportive of him during his time off work. It helped him get through a rough patch in his life. Gratitude oozed out. He told me that I was free to spend the money any way I wanted. I assured him that the money would be donated to Oasis. After he left I shared the story with some of the team at Oasis. They were encouraged. The money is safe in the Oasis vault.

Over the past six months, we have adapted to meet the challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic has presented, and have been extraordinarily blessed by the generosity and creativity of our volunteers and partners in our community to take on whatever has come our way. When it became unsafe for community members in particularly vulnerable populations to visit our food bank, the CAA and NDP Riding Association, along with many other volunteer drivers in our community, stepped up to ...meet this new need, and we became able to make grocery deliveries. It's one of the many ways that Oasis has worked to change and adapt to meet our community members wherever they're at. If you are in need of support, please join us on Tuesdays for our community dinner, and Wednesdays for our food bank. If you are in the position to give, your help has never been needed more, and there has never been a better time than now: an anonymous donor is matching all donations made between now and December 31st, up to $10,000! Consider becoming a monthly donor--your contributions add up to make a big difference! To make a donation and for more information, visit oasisdufferin.org/support

What I See Would you stand in a long line on a cold day with a chilling breeze for food that was chosen for you unless you really needed it? That is was scores of people did last Wednesday. Some of the people who came were there for the first time. The relief on their face when I explained that they would not have to come back another day after registering to get their food was immense. I explained to one of the new community members that we got a good shipment in yesterday f...rom a number of additional sources so we had lots to give out today. He was extremely thankful saying that he was very hungry and had no food in the house. People occasionally ask me whether some of those who come by the food bank are taking advantage of our generosity. They obviously are not seeing what I am seeing. Photo Credit: Imgur

Colour Me Impressed Some years ago a relative who was in the mining business told me that he was fascinated by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (often called Mormons). He said they were completely honest and totally reliable. Being from a different faith background and aware of slights that had been expressed about them, I put his experience down to good luck. However, over the past couple of years we have had numerous volunteers from their church vo...lunteering at Oasis. And for the second year in a row Oasis has been the beneficiary of generous donations from their food and personal care products from their Bishops’ Storehouse. My host explained that Mormons are encouraged to fast regularly and donate the amount of money they would have spent on food to the needy. He and his family have moved from Alberta and are donating a year of their time to manage the Bishops’ Storehouse in west end Toronto. When the wealth was delivered to Oasis, some of their Sisters were there to help sort it. I am pretty sure that when people outside of my faith tradition talk about my crowd, that is not what they say about us. Colour me impressed.