NO ONE SHOULD HAVE TO DEAL WITH FOOD INSECURITY

By SHAGORIIKA EASWAR

Sitting across the lady who had come into the food bank, Rasheeda Qureshi felt goosebumps rise on her arms.

The executive director at Seva Food Bank, Qureshi frequently serves during a client shift in order to stay connected with frontline staff and volunteers. That day, she sat down to a client intake in which they gather information on how many people in the household, ages, dietary restrictions, if any, etc.

“It felt like looking into a mirror,” recalls Qureshi. “She was from a different country, of a different cultural heritage, but the similarities were uncanny. She was the same age as me, had daughters, one of whom was in university... the difference was that one day, her husband walked out on her and the family, leaving her to fend for herself and the children. She was trying to figure out how to pay the mortgage, cover university tuition and put food on the table. Someone suggested she come into the food bank and so there she was, still looking shell-shocked. You know how someone is when they are only half listening to you? When their mind is so full of insurmountable problems?”

What the lady needed that day was assurance that the family would not go hungry. And she needed someone to listen to her.

Qureshi looked at her and thought, in an alternate universe, this could have been her.

“I have not seen her since, but I think of her every day. I hope and pray she found the resources she needed.”

Seva Food Bank arose from the thinking that came about over a Sikh retreat where a group of individuals, all passionate about giving back, came together. Feeling fortunate and blessed in their lives, they volunteered at different organizations, getting an understanding of where the need was and what they could do to help. The Mississauga Food Bank heard of this group that was looking for opportunities to contribute and told them that there was room for someone to take over the management of a food bank in the Square One area.

The connection between the group, by then incorporated as Sikhs Serving Canada, and Mississauga Food Bank resulted in the establishment of what is now known as Seva Food Bank.

At first, it was run solely by volunteers, all working day jobs, who would come there on evenings and weekends. Though specific to a regional postal code, it served anyone who called.

“We either provide the food ourselves, or point them to resources in their neighbourhood,” says Qureshi. “Help is provided to everybody who needs it, based on the Sikh values of sarbat da bhalla which means, literally, blessings for everyone. It is not confined to any one group.”

They believe access to food should be a right, not a privilege.

These are values that resonate with Qureshi who moved to the United Way of Greater Toronto in 2013 after working for 15 years in the corporate sector. She describes her five years there as a terrific learning opportunity. She also realized that she wanted to be on the frontlines, to be in the thick of it. To see the people that were being helped. The conversation between Seva, which was looking for an ED at the time and Qureshi, who was looking for a change, lasted a few months. They began talking in January 2018 and she joined in April.

“They needed to be sure I was the right person and I needed to be sure this was the home I was looking for. That it was the right fit,” she says. “Did it feel right? Was it something I wanted to do long-term? To be honest, if you’d asked me before I met the folk at Seva if I would be working at a food bank, I’d probably have said no, but I love being here. It feels like family. There’s respect, there’s kindness for each other and for those we serve. I can see first-hand how the food bank takes the edge off hunger for thousands of people.”

She takes a deep breath. “I’ll say it... this is God’s work.”

As ED, her mandate covers every aspect of the organization. From fund-raising to ensuring that donors can see how their money is helping people, working with staff and volunteers as well as the operational aspect and currently, health and safety is a big thing. .

“We have a staff of seven, there’s no way we could do this without an army of volunteers – their support is invaluable,” she says.

Ensuring everyone stays safe and healthy is her responsibility.

“The buck stops with me.”

And holding themselves accountable. “We always ask, is this what our clients want, what they need?”

But people sometimes find it hard to comprehend that anyone could go hungry in the first world.

“The need is well-documented,” asserts Qureshi. “The difference is that in the First World, it’s generally not out on the streets, it is behind closed doors. But that doesn’t make it any less catastrophic. Since 2019, we’ve known that in the Peel Region, and across the GTA, one in eight families is dealing with food insecurity, and according to the Community Food Centres of Canada 2020 report, now it is one in seven families.”

Food insecurity, she explains, can be of two types. In mild cases, a parent may go without a meal occasionally so that a child may eat better. In cases of significant food insecurity, all members of a family go without meals frequently. It has been exacerbated during COVID-19 with people experiencing job losses and loss of income.

“Contract positions, low-paying jobs in the restaurant and hospitality industry, factory work, all these have been acutely impacted,” says Qureshi. “Newcomers are having such a hard time. Rents are also increasingly out of reach. A couple on hourly wages may work full-time, six days a week, and still find it hard to sustain their family’s needs.”

Seva’s first location in Malton was just under 3000 sq ft. The second, opened a few years later, is closer to 8000 sq ft. They started out serving core items such as flour, rice, cereal, lentils, etc., items required by the diverse population in the area, and expanded to include fresh produce, milk, eggs, meat, etc., as well as personal hygiene products. They pride themselves on providing culturally-appropriate foods and while, as Qureshi points out, their capacity is not infinite, everyone who comes in is always helped.

In a 12-month period, Seva serves between 5,000 to 6,000 families. Some of them come in every month, others may visit a couple of times a year. The numbers also include a family that came in just once during the period. Putting things in perspective, Qureshi says the food bank supports close to 30,000 people a year.

8 per cent of them are seniors who live on a fixed income, sometimes alone, and may have mobility issues.

50 per cent are adults with families or singles.

40 per cent of the people served are children.

“That is why our wishlist for donations includes snacks and cereal for children,” says Qureshi. “And also feminine hygiene products. So many women ask for those.”

They come from all ethnic backgrounds, people who are originally from all corners of the globe. From South Asia, South East Asia and the Middle East, from the Caribbean, Africa, North and South Americas. People who have been here for generations and also newcomers. And people with all levels of education, from low to high. Those with mental health issues or with significant challenges at home.

“There’s no one bucket we can put our clients in,” says Qureshi. “They are as varied as the neighbourhoods we live in.”

There will always be those who question the need for a food bank. To those who describe people who visit food banks as freeloaders, Qureshi has a simple response.

“We welcome people to come in and experience what it is like to hear the stories we hear. We serve such a wide spectrum. When someone comes in and says, ‘May I please have some food?’ we are not going to say no. It’s like the food being served at gurdwaras, temples, churches and mosques across the world. At none of these places will anyone say, ‘Do you really need this? Should I give it to you?’ to a hungry person. There may be handful who take advantage, but should we make it harden for the vast majority with a real need, make them jump through the hoops? I don’t pass judgement on those who are judgemental, I invite them to come in and volunteer with us. 

“As our board chair Kulvir Singh Gill says, the aim is not to breed reliance, our aim is to be a springboard for success. Any one of us can be in need of help at any point in our life journey and our aim is to provide that with respect and kindness.”

To that end, pre-COVID, Seva followed a model that replicated the grocery shopping experience. Clients would make an appointment to come in – to avoid crowding – and take a trolley and walk down the aisles, picking up what they needed. A volunteer accompanied them, basically, to assist those who needed help understanding ingredients, or to recommend serving portions based on size of household. This was done based on inventory to ensure equity.

That has changed somewhat, post-COVID. When the restrictions to prevent the spread were announced in early March, the team gathered to figure out ways to stay open safely and to ensure clients continued to receive food. They changed to carry-out food hampers, prepackaged following Health Canada guidelines. The hamper contains core items and based on when the clients come in, they get to pick from eggs, milk, halal meat or fresh produce, etc., when available, and volunteers go in and get those for them.

“We’ve gone from a high-dignity, high-choice procedure to less choice, but we still endeavour to make it as dignified an experience as possible for the clients,” says Qureshi. “It is also highly labour intensive and in the beginning, we had very committed, but exhausted, people here. It’s not ideal, but it works. And we continue to have discussions on how to inject choice.

A board member describes a young woman who came in recently. As an international student, she’s alone in the country, and when she lost her part-time job when restaurants shut down during the pandemic, she quickly ran out of money to pay for food. A volunteer brought out a prepackaged hamper and helped her choose other items to meet her needs from the things available that day. Then they called – and paid for – a cab to take her home as she had walked to the food bank and had no means of carrying all the food home. Overwhelmed, she broke into tears, repeatedly thanking everyone.

“That’s what we aim to do,” says Qureshi. “Anyone may fall through the cracks. We scoop them up, we say, ‘We’ve got you. What else can we do to support you?’ We make referrals, guide them to resources that can offer additional help.”

When the grocery shopping model was still in place, Gill once accompanied an elderly gentleman as he picked up items at Seva. He noticed that the gentleman only placed a select few items in his trolley, only certain kinds of easy-to-cook stuff. And also that he hesitated a little before picking them up, examining each closely. “I took these last time, but they tasted funny,” he said. Gill engaged him in a friendly chat and learnt that the gentleman used to come with his wife who had since passed away. She knew what to take, and how to convert ingredients into dishes. He didn’t. So while he was picking up the same things she did, what came out of a can wasn’t what he expected it to be.

Imagine a senior citizen who lives alone expecting rajma from a can of kidney beans. It’s simple enough to make, but one must know how.

That revelation led to the creation of the Malton Community Kitchen in December 2019 where they held cooking demos and workshops on site to improve long term health and social outcomes for families in the surrounding community. It became a place where seniors could spend a little time learning to cook simple, nutritious meals and also meet others. “By learning to make simple meals using the food on our food bank shelves, families can stretch their food dollars,” says Qureshi.

When that ended with social distancing restrictions in place, they pivoted to online demos. The first three teach how to make  black beans-avocado wraps, vegetarian chilli which can be modified to incorporate meat, and pasta with tuna or chickpeas.

Qureshi concedes that wraps and pasta may not necessarily be a desi senior’s comfort food, but says it’s still early days, and they’ve seen a lot of interest. The next few videos will be holiday-themed. A cake, possibly carrot cake as carrots are healthy and they are in season, and brunches.

“I would much rather be doing in-person classes, I would go out and ask seniors to come in and hang out with us, ask what would they like to cook together, but with the restrictions in place, we are trying to make a broad selection that would appeal to a majority of our clients,” she says.

They have also recently signed an MOU with Punjabi Community Health Services (PCHS) to help scale up the amount of food PCHS can serve through their Langar on Wheels program.

And in the future, Seva aspires to improve economic outcomes by offering culinary skills training. “Culinary skills are employable skills,” says Qureshi.

They have also initiated plans to start a community teaching garden come spring.

Not a community garden, Qureshi clarifies, as in not one where people have individual plots, but a demonstration garden.

“It’s very small, 10 x 20 feet, two raised beds, one container... that sort of thing. Rows of three or four of the most used vegetables that are also easy to grow, such as garlic, onions, tomatoes, dhania. The idea is to show that one can help supplement one’s family’s need fairly easily, to create another building block in the chain. We are working informally with EcoSource and hope to have volunteer gardeners conduct workshops. I’m very excited about this!”

Seva Food Bank marked a significant milestone this past September – its 10th anniversary. That same month, they ran the stats and it kind of blew their minds, says Qureshi. “We served over a 1000 client families that month, the highest number to-date.”

Though the need didn’t spike as they had feared, it grew over the months. “It wasn’t the hockey stick curve we’d anticipated, and I believe the government help, the CERB, helped significantly. That’s my hypothesis, but I think others who work in the sector will bear me out on this. But as CERB drew to a close and as talk of a second wave grew, the need grew. I have a bad feeling this will stick around with us well into Christmas. And we’re doing our best to be ready.”

The bulk of their funding comes from individual donors and through the annual gala at which they raise around $150,000. Which was cancelled this year. “We knew we had to replace that revenue with campaigning and advocacy to get people to step up.”

Though loss of jobs and loss of income impacted individual donors, they were fortunate in that people believe in their cause, she says. They rallied around the virtual drive Seva created around Vaisakhi, helping raise funds. Federal support in the form of emergency funding has helped in the short-term.

 As Seva continues to move forward with planning to serve an ever-bigger need, Qureshi confesses to looking forward to a day when there would be no need for food banks.

“I wish I could say I can see no need for us five to 10 years down the road, but today, the need for food banks is greater than ever before and I am thankful we are here. Of course, in an ideal world, there would be no need for food banks, but right now, there’s so much need in the region, so much work to do. You can see the impact year over year. What we need is a system that is better integrated, better networked across artificial city borders.”

She quotes a gentleman at one of the hunger panels she sits on who said it’s not a food problem, it’s a logistics problem as the network tries to reach under-served populations in areas where the population and hence the need is growing exponentially. 

“The system to disseminate the food is usually broken in areas where the need is growing rapidly, where the infrastructure hasn’t caught up,” she points out. “Toronto and Mississauga are getting very expensive to live in, pushing people to the outskirts, often beyond the reach of existing networks. We need conveniently located food banks. Food should be the least of people’s worries.”

COVID-19 upset a lot of supply chains and at the time of the interview, they had only a limited supply and range of fresh produce available to offer clients at Seva.

“Clients are used to cooking with fresh vegetables and we are not getting enough donations of those. For the first time, we are having to buy them, even things like potatoes and onions. Planning ahead for winter, we are looking, actively, for donors or suppliers of fresh food.”

To contribute, please visit www.sevafoodbank.com.

Seva is also always looking for new people to help and support its initiatives, and matches individual skills and talent with specific needs. Visit volunteer@sevafoodbank.com to find out how you can help.

 More info on Langar on Wheels at http://pchs4u.com/programs/langar-on-wheels.

Watch cooking demos at Malton Community Kitchen here:

Tuna & chickpea pasta

Vegetarian chili

Black bean and avocado wraps