Second Harvest is Canada's largest food rescuecharitable organization with a dual mission of environmental protection and hunger relief. They recover and redistribute perishable, nutritious, unsold food before it becomes waste to a broad network of 1200 social service organizations. Their service helps nourish people through school programs, seniors' centres, homeless shelters, food banks, and regional food hubs. In 34 years, Second Harvest has rescued over 155 million pounds of healthy food, preventing 192 million pounds of greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere. Second Harvest created , a free tool for businesses in Ontario to donate excess food, lessen environmental impacts, and nourish local communities. Second Harvest organizes several special events each year, the largest of which are and each year to add to their fund-raising base.
History and timeline
Second Harvest was founded in April 1985 in Toronto by Ina Andre and Joan Clayton. Under the direction of Andre and Clayton, the organization began small and consisted of picking up waste food in a hatchback from restaurants and grocery stores and distributing it across the city. In 1994, the Ontario Legislature passed the “Donation of Food Act” or Good Samaritan Legislation releasing those who donate food or distribute donated food from liability in the event that an individual is affected by the consumption of that food, provided that due diligence is exercised. This act enabled Second Harvest to accept donations from large food corporations, helping the organization to grow substantially. April 2015 — Second Harvest marked 30 years of delivering fresh, surplus food to Toronto's hungry. July 2, 2018 — Lori Nikkel becomes the organization's first chief executive officer. October 26, 2018 — Second Harvest launches , a free tool for business to donate excess food, lessen environmental impacts, and nourish local communities. January 17, 2019 — Second Harvest releases , a world-first report co-authored , identifying the amount of food that is lost and wasted across the Canadian supply chain and the approximately 30 root causes of food loss and waste and over 100 solutions to limit the amount lost and wasted. This report identifies that in Canada 58% of all food produced for Canadians is lost or wasted and over 11MM tonnes could be redirected to support communities in need. June 11, 2019 - Second Harvest expands food recovery efforts with foodrescue.ca to British Columbia
