Food Archives - GlobalMedic

Morocco Earthquake Response 2023

Around 11pm local time on September 8, a 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck the High Atlas mountain range, 72 km southwest of Marrakech, Morocco, a city home to 840,000 people. The quake was followed by a 4.9 magnitude aftershock. This has been the biggest earthquake felt in the region. Extensive damage has been reported with buildings collapsed and critical infrastructure severely damaged. The death toll as of Monday was over 2,800. The death toll is expected to rise as rescue teams are unable to reach the most remote areas.

Approximately 300,000 people have been affected by the earthquake. A majority of the damage occurred in rural areas surrounding Marrakech, including al-Haouz, Ouarzazate, Azilal, Chichaoua, and Taroudant provinces. Many of these areas are remote and roads leading to them need to be cleared to enable rescue and relief teams to reach those in need. The exact number of damaged and destroyed buildings is unknown but it is estimated to be in the hundreds.

2,800+ KILLED

6.8 M EARTHQUAKE

2,500 INJURED

GlobalMedic has deployed our Rapid Response Team (RRT) with 4 AquaResponse3 Water Purification Systems to Morocco.

Following an earthquake of this magnitude, access to basic supplies becomes nearly impossible. This includes clean drinking water, with damage from the earthquake disrupting existing infrastructure such as water reservoirs. The AR3s are point-of-source water filtration devices that can provide clean drinking water to support over 2,000 people every day. These units will be installed at central locations like feeding centres and health clinics to ensure that the water being consumed at these sites is safe to drink.

GlobalMedic’s Rapid Response Team is also working with local partners to run a hot meal program. We have taken over a local cafe and are producing meals daily to provide to people affected by the earthquake. Every day we will be able to feed hundreds of people, ensuring they stay fed and healthy.

The team has delivered meals to displaced people living in makeshift accommodations as well as to a group of people in the hospital. They are continuing to look for vulnerable groups who will benefit from this assistance. We have also offered additional assistance including deploying our RescUAV Team and bringing in more aid including Family Emergency Kits and Aquatabs.

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Asylum Seekers in Toronto

Maha Farooq & Hawi Wonswossen – Emergency Programs Interns

Escalation of Unhoused Asylum Seekers

Asylum seekers in Toronto have been facing a shelter crisis since early June; public attention grew as the number of asylum seekers camping outside the streets of downtown Toronto increased weekly. By July, a few dozen asylum seekers were spotted sleeping outside the City’s shelter intake centre on Peter Street. The asylum seekers stayed outside the intake centre in the hope that they would soon secure some form of housing. The reality was that the City’s shelter systems were at full capacity, and on top of that, no funding was available to accommodate the influx of refugees and asylum seekers seeking housing assistance. According to the City of Toronto, the total number of asylum seekers in the shelter system has multiplied by more than 500 percent over the past 20 months. Numbers have skyrocketed from 530 people a night in September of 2021 to almost 3,000 in May of 2023. Asylum seekers remained neglected as the federal and municipal governments began a long back-and-forth as to who should be responsible for the individuals.

The total number of asylum seekers sleeping on the street continued to grow in July, and local organizations began to take matters into their own hands. Ainsworth Morgan, co-founder of the 100 Strong Foundation, a non-profit that aims to empower Black boys to become leaders, played an important role in finding shelter for some of the refugees. He contacted Pastor Judith James at Revivaltime Tabernacle Church in North York, who immediately offered up her space to help. Dominion Church International Toronto followed suit, and together the two were able to take in close to 350 people. With an understanding of the possible gaps that would be present, GlobalMedic reached out to the churches to gain an understanding of how we could help. Equipped with this information, we activated our programs to support.

Interning During this Response – Maha

As a summer Emergency Programs Intern at GlobalMedic, I have had the opportunity to work on various emergency response projects. When GlobalMedic heard of the Toronto Asylum seeker situation and the work of the two North York churches, the team was quick to connect with the churches and strategize a response plan. Working in coordination with the churches that were accommodating over 300 individuals at the time, GlobalMedic mobilized a team to the scene, including myself. The first step was to identify the gap in needs in this situation, and what programs we could activate to support what was already being done. With the support of our funders and local partners, the RRT helped distribute aid in the form of linens, disco cots (beds), hygiene items, food, and vitamins. I went with the team to the warehouse to pack up the beds and to a hotel where the Gupta Family Foundation had generously donated clean and fresh linens and pillows for the beds.

Going to the churches and distributing the aid was a key learning moment for me as I was able to experience firsthand the importance of coordination and time management when providing relevant and meaningful aid. Seeing diverse members of the community come together at these churches and offer their help was such a powerful moment for my colleagues and I, and reminded us of the positive impact all of us can help bring forth. Witnessing firsthand the living conditions of asylum seekers in the impromptu church shelters, we knew that the facility had well past its limit. The WASH facilities, including toilets and showers, at the churches are not enough for everyone, resulting in long wait times and concerns over sanitation and hygiene standards. Additionally, the facilities did not have the means to provide laundry services, which adds to the issue of hygiene. In response to this, GlobalMedic worked to provide laundry access, by first establishing a safe connection point and ventilation, followed by a washer and dryer unit at Revivaltime Tabernacle. With access to clean clothes, the affected asylum seekers can reestablish good hygiene practices. Most importantly, placing a focus on their health and hygiene needs helps bring them a step closer to adequate living standards and maintains a person’s confidence and dignity.

Interning During this Response – Hawie

As an intern at GlobalMedic, I was able to experience our coordination efforts first hand. While the asylum seekers had a roof over their heads, there was still an overwhelming amount of need. A Rapid Response Team consisting of myself, an Emergency Programs Officer and trained volunteers was sent out to deliver the right aid to the right people at the right time. We visited Revivaltime Tabernacle Church, which was housing roughly 270 asylum seekers. We brought them essential hygiene products, like soap, shampoo and conditioner, vitamins, and a variety of non-perishable food items. The food we delivered was from GlobalMedic’s McAntony’s Menu program, an emergency food program designed to meet the food security needs in Toronto. We also delivered sleeping cots, and worked together to teach the asylum seekers how to correctly assemble them. Following our visit, we organized the delivery of a washing machine and dryer, along with different laundry supplies. This made it possible for asylum seekers to do their laundry without having to worry about travel or service costs.

Delivering Hygiene Items to Revivaltime Tabernacle Church

As a daughter of refugees, I immediately empathized with the asylum seekers. I understood the challenges they may have experienced while trying to build a better life for themselves and their families. Being able to contribute to such a meaningful response was very impactful for me. I was also able to understand the importance of coordination in a domestic crisis, and observe the immediate impact of aid programming.

Ongoing Support

As Toronto continues to struggle with the refugee crisis, it’s clear that additional funding and coordination is needed. The situation requires serious attention, and as it evolves, GlobalMedic continues to offer its support. Working with local communities and organizations will only strengthen our efforts in creating comprehensive solutions and delivering aid to individuals that need it the most. Together, we can make a difference and support those who seek refuge in Canada.

Storm Fiona Response 2022

On September 24, 2022, post-tropical storm Fiona made landfall in Canada, tearing through the Atlantic coast. Storm Fiona brought with it strong winds and storm surges, causing incredible damage to homes and businesses, knocking down trees and power lines, and in some cases forcing evacuations. Communities like Port aux Basques and Cape Breton were particularly hard hit and across the Atlantic region more than 400,000 homes were without power the day after the storm made landfall.

400,000+ WITHOUT POWER

160 KM/H WINDS

5 PROVINCES AFFECTED

Storm Fiona: 4 men standing beside stacks of white buckets with GlobalMedic and Procter & Gamble stickers on them — Packing Clean Up Kits

GlobalMedic responded immediately by mobilizing volunteers to pack Clean Up Kits. Our Clean Up Kits contain household cleaning supplies, garbage bags, gloves, and masks to help families with the arduous process of cleaning up a home flooded by storm surge. These kits are packaged in buckets to further assist with moving stagnant water out of the home. Getting these items into the hands of vulnerable families quickly is key for them to get back in their homes as soon as possible. We sent initial shipments to Port aux Basque and Cape Breton by air, following up with additional kits sent by truck to Nova Scotia. We were able to support 714 households with Clean Up Kits.

Storm Fiona: blue and white McAntony's Menu red lentil bags piled on a table — McAntony’s Menu Red Lentils

Storm Fiona: Two volunteers using pallet jacks to move skids of cardboard boxes. The boxes contain McAntony's Menu food items. — McAntony’s Menu Red Lentils

Additionally, we are working to support local food banks as they have seen a rush of clients accessing their services due to the storm. With an already high demand for food bank services, many organizations find their stockpiles low. We sent nearly 30,000 pounds of food from our McAntony’s Menu program to help fill this gap in Nova Scotia. GlobalMedic volunteers dedicated their time to taking bulk 50lbs bags of food and re-packing it into smaller 500g bags. By purchasing in bulk and utilizing volunteers to re-pack, we are able to produce a bag of food for a family for a third to a quarter of the retail price.

Pakistan Flooding 2022

Since June 2022, Pakistan has been bombarded by severe monsoon weather. As of August 27, rainfall in the country is equivalent to 2.9 times the national average. The extreme weather has caused widespread flooding and landslides, leading to the destruction of property and infrastructure. There has also been an enormous impact on human lives: Since June 14, an estimated 1,033 people have been killed and 1,527 people injured, with those numbers expected to increase with the continued rain.

Right now, approximately 33 million people in Pakistan have been impacted by the disaster. Some of the most urgent needs among those affected are those in the area of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). An estimated 3.8 million people are in need of WASH support due to contaminated water and limited access to hygiene items.

The contamination of water supply and destruction of water filtration systems in Pakistan has already exacerbated ongoing disease outbreaks. The World Health Organization has already noted the increased spread of illnesses like acute watery diarrhoea, dengue fever, malaria, polio, and COVID-19. The humanitarian situation in Pakistan will likely worsen even more with the continuation of heavy rain over areas already hit by flooding.

3.9 MILLION PEOPLE IN NEED OF WASH SUPPORT

33 MILLION PEOPLE AFFECTED

FLOODS COVERING MORE THAN 1/3 OF THE COUNTRY

Water purification system set up at a communal kitchen

GlobalMedic’s Rapid Response Team is on the ground in Pakistan working to respond to these growing concerns. In response to the growing outbreaks of diarrheals and other communicable diseases, our team is distributing oral rehydration salts and other medicines to prevent minor cases from developing into life threatening illnesses. 312,000 sachets of oral rehydration salts have been distributed to health clinics and directly to families impacted by the flooding.

We are also working to provide access to clean drinking water both with large point of use systems being used at communal kitchens and clinics and through the provision of Family Emergency Kits. Seven large scale systems have been purchased locally and the RRT carried two AquaResponse3 systems into Pakistan with them. The Family Emergency Kits provide an at home water purification solution as well as essential hygiene supplies. These units will allow families to have access to clean drinking water for up to a year which will be crucial in maintaining their health through the recovery phase of this disaster. To date we have distributed 3,600 FEKs in multiple flood affected regions.

Finally, we are providing food hampers to families displaced by the flooding. These hampers provide a mixture of culturally appropriate staple goods and are procured and packed in Pakistan, supporting the local economy. To date, 10,000 food hampers have been distributed. The needs in Pakistan are immense and our teams continue to evaluate the situation on the ground so we can be mobile and adaptive in our response.

Volunteers preparing Family Emergency Kits

Ukraine Conflict Response 2022-2023

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An estimated 8.1 million people have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022 making it the fastest-growing refugee crisis since World War II. Neighbouring countries have seen waves of refugees crossing their borders, seeking safety and support. In addition, at the peak more than 8 million people were internally displaced. Although some people have returned home, there are still approximately 6.3 million IDPs in Ukraine. Many families have fled their homes with very little and the humanitarian crisis continues to grow as the conflict wears on.

GlobalMedic has worked closely with local Ukrainian partners over the years, and with our network of partners and Rapid Response Team members we are supporting Ukrainians who have been impacted due to the increased violence. Please consider a donation to our current response.

Overview of GlobalMedic’s Programming in Ukraine

Moldova

Since the beginning of the crisis, more than 535,000 Ukrainian refugees have crossed into Moldova. Our Rapid Response Team is on the ground in Moldova and is working with our local partners to support the intake of refugees into Moldova. We began by working to distribute food and hygiene items to refugees in Moldova, setting up on the Ukrainian border to provide immediate assistance to entering refugees and procuring additional items required by temporary shelters as they emerged. Our ready to eat meal program has distributed more than 12,980 meals to refugees in transit at local train stations, as well as to refugees staying in shelters.

We have set up an emergency food kit program in Moldova whereby kits are assembled which contain locally procured, culturally appropriate staple foods including rice, beans, potatoes and cabbage. These kits are then distributed to Ukrainian refugees and Moldovan host families, with some being transported back across the border to Odesa. We have distributed more than 152,100 of these kits in Moldova and sent an additional 650 kits across the border into Ukraine. We are have also distributed 8,100 Family Emergency Kits in the rural areas surrounding Chisinau, providing access to clean drinking water and essential hygiene items to families who have relocated there.

Hot meals being served to Ukrainian refugees crossing the Moldovan border

A woman getting supplies at soup kitchen in Moldova

A child eating food at a soup kitchen in Moldova

Romania

More than 830,000 Ukrainian refugees have crossed into Romania since conflict broke out in Ukraine. Our Rapid Response Team is on the ground in Romania running our operations. With our local partners, we are providing Ukrainian refugees with food, hygiene items and shelter. We are supporting the renovation of a dormitory to host additional refugees and are actively working to make sure that newly arrived refugees have access to support to meet their basic needs through the purchase of items like mattresses, bedding and cleaning supplies. We initially also supported aid convoys running cross-border operations into Ukraine. Daily humanitarian convoys were running in small vans to deliver food aid, hygiene items and medical supplies which have been distributed in several Ukrainian cities including Chernivtsi, Kyiv and Kharkiv.

We have also set up an emergency food kit packing program in Romania. Locally procured food items are being assembled into kits by our RRT members and local volunteers. These kits are being distributed in Romania as well as across the border in Ukraine. To date, more than 34,600 food kits have been distributed through this program.

GlobalMedic volunteers in Canada have also been assembling emergency food kits which we are sending to support our Romanian operations. So far an additional 1,600 kits have been transported from Canada to our program in Suceava where they were then distributed across the border in Ukraine.

Aid being put together for cross-border delivery

Ukraine

We are working with our long time local partners in Ukraine to provide assistance to people who have been displaced due to the conflict. During the initial wave of migration, GlobalMedic and our partners took over a hotel restaurant in Lviv to supply free hot meals to displaced people seeking safety from the violence. Our team also set up at a train station in Lviv to provide those in transit with hearty food. Through that program we supported 3,825 people with food support. We are now running this program in Odessa to support IDPs and local residents who remain there. Meals are prepared every day on a rotating menu to provide variety but also nutritious options. This program has distributed 46,700 meals to date.

We have opened a number of food hamper packing sites inside Ukraine. The hampers at these sites are prepared using all locally sourced products and local staff and volunteers are supporting their production. The hampers are then distributed to food insecure families across the country. We have delivered 127,816 hampers through this program. We are also supplying hygiene kits through similar channels, distributing 20,000 kits to date.

We are facilitating cross-border shipments into Ukraine. In partnership with Airlink, Air Canada and Ukrainian Medical Support, we sent a shipment of trauma supplies and essential medicines to support hospitals and displaced persons. This shipment was flown to Poland and then trucked to Lviv. We also supported a shipment of hygiene items from Poland to UNICEF operations in Lviv.

We flew a second shipment containing Emergency Food Kits assembled by GlobalMedic volunteers in Canada. These kits were also flown to Poland and then trucked to Lutsk. The kits contain pantry staple items as well as things like solar lights, water purification tablets, Procter & Gamble Purifier of water sachets, and some first aid kits. The first aid kits were designed by a GlobalMedic volunteer who has trained paramedic students around the world. Students from Humber College’s Paramedic Program created instructions on how to use the First Aid Kit on common, trauma-related injuries. Working with Humber’s instructors and students, GlobalMedic filmed instructional videos where Humber’s paramedic students demonstrated how to use the contents of the First Aid Kits and some of GlobalMedic’s Ukrainian-speaking volunteers translated and spoke in the videos so the instructions are clear for those in Ukraine. We have continued sending air cargo on a weekly basis to various locations in Europe for further transport into Ukraine and have distributed more than 44,180 Emergency Food Kits and 27,736 Family Emergency Kits to affected families in Ukraine.

Medical supplies being loaded onto and Air Canada flight

Refugee Voices – Irina

Refugee Voices – Evhenia

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Our Response in Ukraine is supported in part by

Sudan Complex Emergency Response

After the ousting of the former government in 2018, Sudan was on a path to economic growth and huge transitions in the country which would have a desperately needed impact on the life of vulnerable Sudanese communities. The military coup of October 2021 has shaken this path and the country remains in a precarious situation. Humanitarian needs across Sudan are now at record levels with an estimated 15.8 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in 2023. Protracted and new displacement, increasing risk of civilian safety, unprecedented spikes in acute food insecurity, floods, high inflation, and persistent disease outbreaks have fuelled this increase in needs.

According to the latest analysis, close to 11.7 million people will be acutely food insecure (IPC Phase 3 and up) this year. This has increased by almost 2 million people since last year. This is one of the contributing factors to a high level of acute and chronic malnutrition in the country. Over 4 million children under-five year and pregnant and lactating women (PLW) need treatment or prevention interventions for acute malnutrition.

Over one-third of acutely malnourished children live in the extreme or catastrophic scale for WASH, exposing them to heightened morbidity and mortality risks. These children make up part of the 5.5 million people who lack basic access to water and the 11.5 million people who need sanitation services including tools for proper hand washing like soap.

GlobalMedic is responding in Sudan by implementing preventative nutrition programs. This program is funded by an International Food Relief Partnership grant from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). This program aims to reduce the risk of acute malnutrition in children under 5 through the provision of ready to use supplemental food (RUSF). Children participating in the program are screened and provided with a six month dose of Enov’Nutributter, which contains essential nutrients to prevent stunting in children who are not getting sufficient nutrition from their diets alone.

Recognizing the multi-sectoral causes of malnutrition, we are also distributing Family Emergency Kits which contain a household ceramic water purification unit. These units will provide access to clean drinking water for up to one year. The FEKs also contain basic hygiene items including soap, which is a critical tool in stopping the spread of communicable diseases, as well as a solar light.

British Columbia Flooding 2021

Severe rainfall on November 13th, 14th and 15th caused mudslides and debris flow, resulting in the closure of many highways and roads in British Columbia’s interior and southern regions. The rainfall broke dozens of all-time rainfall records, with some communities seeing nearly a month’s worth of rain over a 48 hour period. Entire regions of the Fraser Valley were swamped by floodwater. Evacuation orders were issued for many communities including Merritt, Princeton and Abbotsford. As of November 17th, the province declared a state of emergency stating that the storm was the worst weather to hit the area “in a century“. Nearly 20,000 people had to evacuate their homes and communities faced intense shortages of basic items as stores were unable to restock due to disruptions in the supply chain.

RECORD BREAKING RAINFALL

NEARLY 20,000 PEOPLE DISPLACED

ROADS OUT ACROSS THE PROVINCE

GlobalMedic mobilized to support residents affected by the flooding. As the evacuation orders began lifting, residents moved back into affected communities and needed assistance during the early recovery phase. Supply chains continued to be disrupted and we focused on providing material aid to support households while they started to clean up and move forward from this disaster.

We activated GlobalMedic volunteers on the ground in BC to prepare to begin our response. At the same time, volunteers in Ontario worked to put together our first shipments of aid. We put together 407 Clean Up Kits which contained items like disinfectant, all purpose cleaners, garbage bags, rubber gloves and laundry supplies. The products for these kits were provided by our partners at Procter & Gamble. These kits were flown from Toronto to Vancouver by Air Canada and were received by volunteers. 214 kits were picked up and driven to Abbotsford where they were distributed to residents beginning the clean up process in their homes. The remaining kits were stored at an air hanger in Langley where they were taken out to communities on boats and small aircraft. As we continued to phase up our response, we sent an additional 972 kits.

In addition, we also put together hygiene kits and food hampers to provide to affected households. The hygiene kits contained items like shampoo, toothpaste and toothbrushes. The food hampers were comprised of non-perishable goods to help prevent at risk households from slipping into food insecurity. We distributed 470 hygiene kits and 1,960 food hampers. We also delivered more than 11,000 kg of our McAntony’s Menu product to food banks in Abbotsford and Chilliwack to support the ongoing impact to food security created by the flooding.

We also activated a laundry program. In Abbotsford and Kamloops, we offered free wash and fold services to residents who had been displaced or who needed that support upon moving back to their homes.

In addition to providing aid to families, GlobalMedic also supported efforts to mitigate the environmental damage of the floods. The rising water levels ended up displacing sturgeon, massive fish that normally reside in fresh water, and stranding them to flooded farms, fields, and roads. To support the Fraser Valley Angling Guides Association (FVAGA) in their recovery of the sturgeon, GlobalMedic shipped cold water rescue equipment to help them carry out the task safely. Our RescUAV team also provided their expertise to the initiative by mapping 288 hectares and capturing capturing 2,050 images of the areas in which the sturgeon were stranded. The FVAGA was able to use these images to locate the individual fish requiring relocation

COVID-19 Response

Beginning in March 2020, GlobalMedic worked to adapt and respond quickly to needs created by the COVID-19 pandemic both internationally and here in Canada. Throughout the entirety of our response, we believed that in order to control this virus and the impacts it was having on vulnerable communities, it was extremely important for all agencies (public and private) to work together to ensure the health and safety of the public. At all stages of this pandemic we continue doing our part in this ever-changing situation.

We carried out a series of programs designed to assist institutions and people affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.

Critical Infrastructure Program

The healthcare system in Ontario was inundated with people affected by COVID-19. We offered hospitals critical infrastructure tents that they could for patient triage, dedicated testing spaces, or any other need that arose.

Many food banks were forced to close their doors to patrons to help reduce the spread of the virus. However the need for services food banks provide did not diminish and in fact was increasing. We offered our tents to local food banks in an effort to reduce the number of people in buildings and provide a dedicated area for people to access much needed resources.

We also began setting up temporary tenting in partnership with Toronto Community Housing to run flu shot clinics as well as pop-up COVID-19 testing sites. We helped facilitate vaccinations for 6,260 TCHC residents. We set up tenting that was used for COVID-19 vaccination clinics in hotspot areas of the city. We participated in 309 vaccination events helping 231,779 people receive their COVID-19 vaccine.

Aerial view of military tent set up in a parking lot — Critical Infrastructure tenting set up at Daily Bread Food Bank

Tent set up as COVID-19 vaccination clinic — Tent set up at CCRIHC as COVID-19 vaccination clinic

Impact: We set up critical infrastructure tents at Daily Bread Food Bank, North York Harvest Food Bank, Brampton Civic Hospital, Etobicoke General Hospital, the House of Friendship and the Canadian Centre for Refugee and Immigrant Health Care

Hygiene and Family Kit Distribution

GlobalMedic has a longstanding partnership with Procter & Gamble. Our volunteers construct hygiene kits using P&G products and distribute them to food banks, shelters, and similar institutions across Canada. Each kit contains full size hygiene items like shampoo, deodorant and toothpaste. We ramped up our production to ensure that the most vulnerable continued to have access to these essential needs during such an uncertain time.

Bars of soap from Clean the World were also being given out to similar institutions to ensure everyone was able to properly wash their hands.

Similar to the hygiene kits, we also distributed family kits to food banks and shelters. These kits contain similar hygiene items, but also include cleaning supplies and laundry detergent and are designed to serve a family rather than an individual.

We provided Thank You Kits to front-line workers in hospitals, senior services and long term care facilities across Canada. The kits included hygiene items for showering after work to help keep the workers safe and healthy. With these kits, we wanted to say thank you to the staff who worked incredibly hard to care for some of our most vulnerable community members.

In collaboration with local fire departments, we handed out COVID Safety Kits containing soap and face masks. As the kits were handed out, fire fighters also promoted the 3 P’s of COVID-19 safety.

people holding hygiene kits and standing in front of boxes — Hygiene Kits delivered to Women’s Centre of Calgary

A man and a woman standing in front of a car holding boxes of soap — GlobalMedic handing off bar soap to Street Health

Thank You Kits delivered to Grand River Hospital

Impact: We provided 45,555 hygiene kits, 2,614 family kits, 1,082 clean up kits and 67,140 bars of soap to community organizations like Woodgreen Community Services, Street Health Toronto and Blue Door Shelter. We also delivered 36,406 Thank You Kits to front-line workers and 17,130 COVID Safety Kits.

Emergency Food Distribution

Many food banks were and continue to face food shortages, as well as seeing a huge increase in new clients due to the pandemic. We have responded by re-packaging staple foods purchased in bulk into 500g bags ready for use, and delivering them to local agencies that serve vulnerable clients. The staple foods include green peas, pearled barley, red lentils, rice, chickpeas, green lentils and kidney beans.

We are also working with Hand Up Toronto, to supply food to families who are newly food insecure and may not know how to engage with the food bank system through our Feed the Six hamper program. These hampers are delivered through contactless drop-offs or drive through pick ups in the Greater Toronto Area.

In addition, early on in our response we were ordering food directly from the supplier and having it delivered to food banks. This cut down on waiting time, and saved food banks the cost of buying the food themselves.

Rows of bags filled with green lentils — Green lentils packed for distribution

A man standing behind two pallets of dried foods — Bulk food delivery to Daily Bread Food Bank

Impact: We provided over 974,300 kg of dried food staples, 24,000 cans of soup and 50,000 eggs to organizations including the Daily Bread Food Bank, North York Harvest Food Bank and Muslim Welfare Centre, and included some of these products in the packing of food hampers. We distributed more than 35,333 food hampers containing items like dry goods, pasta and potatoes through our Feed the Six Kits, as well as 23,770 hampers through our partnerships with North York Harvest and IDRF, and produced 49,920 Emergency Food Boxes for Feed Ontario. We assisted Mississauga Food Bank with sorting their backlog of 78 food donation bins. Finally, we distributed $50,000 of grocery store gift cards.

Hand Sanitizer Program

With many local distilleries closed to the public, some shifted their production method to begin producing hand sanitizer. The sanitizer was been approved by Health Canada and it was ready to fill the gap in supply.

We partnered with some of these local distilleries, including Willibald Farm Distillery, Last Straw Distillery and Murphy’s Law Distillery, and provided buckets and distribution networks. Together, we worked to get hand sanitizer to food banks, shelters, hospitals and other healthcare institutions all across Canada. We also worked to deliver hand sanitizer to First Nations communities in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in these vulnerable populations.

Finally, we acquired large supplies of hand sanitizer from traditional vendors to ensure we could keep supplying critical institutions and preventing the spread of COVID-19.

Two men filling buckets with hand sanitizer — Hand sanitizer production at Last Straw Distillery

Impact: We distributed more than 113,500 L of sanitizer to healthcare institutions, First Nations communities, food banks, shelters and other support programs in Canada.

Cash Assistance Program

So many Canadians are struggling to make ends meet due to job losses as a direct result of COVID-19. We initiated a cash transfer program to help supplement the finances of families that have been affected. Participants were referred through partner food banks and children’s breakfast club programs, and were interviewed before receiving the transfer.

“Thank you for giving us the ability to buy groceries and pay rent”
Cash Transfer Recipient

Impact: 198 families have received $500 cash transfers.

Kits for First Nations Communities

Many First Nations Communities were especially feeling the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. With their locations often remote, access to items like food, hygiene supplies, and personal protective equipment can be difficult and costly.

GlobalMedic and Hydro One partnered to produce and distribute 13,520 kits for First Nations communities across Ontario. These kits included dried foods like rice, lentils, pasta and more, as well as soap, a solar light, and reusable masks.

The kits were designed to support a family for several weeks, and provide them with important resources to keep them safe and healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We also provided 250 kits for Shamattawa First Nation in Northern Manitoba who were struggling with a large outbreak in their community.

Personal Protective Equipment & Medical Supplies

GlobalMedic also worked to make sure Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) like face masks and face shields were available to vulnerable groups and front-line workers, both here in Canada and around the world.

In countries that may be struggling with ongoing humanitarian crises or that are simply seeing their systems overwhelmed from the pandemic, availability of PPE can be a concern.

We have distributed masks and face shields in countries including Antigua, the Bahamas, Canada, Cuba, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, and Syria.

We also organized shipments of PPE and medical supplies like pulse oximeters to India, Bangladesh and Pakistan as they struggled with intense third and fourth waves of infections and overwhelmed hospitals.

Shipment of face masks heading to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Children wearing Face Shields in St Lucia — Children wearing face shields at school in Saint Lucia

Impact: We distributed more than 853,500 face shields, 39,063,200 face masks, 741,400 hospital gowns and coveralls, 533,900 packs of sanitizing wipes, as well as 2,000 pulse oximeters and 10,399 COVID-19 Rapid Test kits.

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Please note that GlobalMedic is taking every precaution to protect its staff and volunteers during this outbreak, including enhanced hygiene practices, and ensuring physical distancing guidelines are followed.

World Food Day 2021

Morgan Clark – Emergency Programs Officer

World Food Day (WFD) 2021 is on October 16! World Food Day has been celebrated annually since 1981 to commemorate the founding of the United Nations (UN) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and increase awareness of world hunger and poverty.

WFD is celebrated each year to inspire solutions for world change in the food and agriculture sector and to raise awareness of global food insecurity. WFD is especially important to GlobalMedic as a humanitarian organization that operates food-related programs in Canada and around the world.

About World Food Day 2021

World Food Day is one of the most celebrated days of the UN calendar, collectively observed across 150 countries, including Canada. Hundreds of events, outreach activities, and educational materials promote worldwide awareness and action for those experiencing hunger and food insecurity. World Food Day celebrations also highlight the need to ensure healthy diets for all. It’s a day when Governments, businesses, NGOs, the media, and the general public can come together in an effort to eradicate world hunger.

Who is the UN FAO?

The UN FAO is a specialized agency of the United Nations, founded in 1945, that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition and food security. The UN FAO’s Latin motto, fiat panis, translates to “let there be bread”. Their goal is to achieve food security for all and make sure that people have regular access to enough high-quality food to lead active, healthy lives.

Why care about food systems?

Every time you eat, you participate in global agri-food systems. From the food you choose at the store and the way food is produced, prepared, cooked, and stored, makes us all an integral and active part of how the system works.

The world’s agri-food systems currently employ 1 billion people worldwide, which is more than any other economic sector. Moreover, food production, consumption, and, sadly, waste, exacts a heavy toll on our planet. Over 30% of the world’s food is either lost due to inadequate harvesting, handling, storage, and transit or wasted at the consumer level. Such inefficiency is costing trillions of dollars, but, most importantly, today’s agri-food systems are exposing profound inequalities and injustices in our global society. The COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated these issues, making it even harder for farmers to sell their harvests, while rising poverty is pushing an increased number of city residents to use food banks, and millions of people require emergency food aid.

According to the UN FAO, more than 3 billion people (almost 40% of the world’s population) cannot afford a healthy diet, while obesity continues to increase worldwide.

What GlobalMedic is doing to combat food insecurity?

In keeping with our mandate to deliver the right aid to the right people at the right time, our approach to delivering food aid is both innovative and adaptable. We operate both domestic and international food programs, ensuring that the food we deliver is culturally appropriate and best fits the needs of our beneficiaries.

The goal of our international Emergency Food Program is simple – we want to do emergency food better. Accessing adequate and healthy food sources can be extremely difficult for families in conflict and disaster zones around the world, so to address these needs of nutritional support, GlobalMedic distributes Emergency Food Kits. The first iteration of these food kits provided families with an easy-to-make, ready-to-cook meal that is calorically dense and nutritious. Not only are these meals tasty and culturally appropriate, but they are also easy to prepare and have long shelf lives, so families on the move don’t have to worry about spoilage. We worked with local partners to provide these types of food kits to families in Syria, Indonesia, and Ukraine.

As we developed and improved our Emergency Food Program, looking for ways to make it more cost-effective and increasingly impactful, the Emergency Food Kits transitioned into a ‘pantry style’ food program. These kits contain a pantry of multiple culturally appropriate staple ingredients, such as rice, beans, lentils, and grits, to be assembled at the discretion of the beneficiary. This pantry solution provides families with more autonomy in their food preparation and allows us to provide more aid at a similar price point.

Over the past few years, GlobalMedic has supported families in Antigua & Barbuda, Haiti, Indonesia, Iraq, Nicaragua, Saint Vincent, and the Grenadines, Ukraine, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, and the Bahamas through our Emergency Food Program. To learn more about our international food programs, click here.

McAntony’s Menu, a part of The Grassroots Revolution, is the domestic version of our food program. It was designed to complement and support the heavily utilized local food bank systems that serve the 1 in 8 families in Canada who are food insecure. This program is a unique way to think about and approach food donation. To keep our costs low and make the biggest impact possible, we leverage our existing supply chains to buy bulk bags of pantry staples like rice, green peas, red lentils, and chickpeas and then mobilize our dedicated volunteers to repack the food into 500g bags. These family-sized portions are then boxed up and delivered to food banks and other support programs across the country, for a third to a quarter of the retail price. As with our international beneficiaries, we also prioritize maintaining the dignity of our domestic beneficiaries through this program, and by removing our logo and name from the packaging, these products do not look like “charity food”.

Since its launch in 2020, we have delivered more than 1,432,000 lbs of food through our McAntony’s Menu program. To learn more about the program, click here.

Food Insecurity and COVID-19

Our extensive experience with implementing emergency food programs domestically and internationally allowed GlobalMedic to quickly expand our operations at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the past 18 months, we have handed out McAntony’s Menu pantry staples at various vaccination clinics, including The Canadian Centre for Refugee & Immigrant Health Care (CCRIHC), and packed over 13,000 food hampers for First Nations communities. In addition to our regular McAntony’s Menu program, we partnered with local food banks to deliver additional programs in response to the growing food insecurity fuelled by the pandemic. With the support of our dedicated volunteers, GlobalMedic has been assembling food hampers for North York Harvest and Feed Ontario and sorting food donation bins for Mississauga Food Bank. We have also partnered with Hand Up Toronto to run our Feed the Six Campaign, which provides vulnerable families in the GTA with food hampers. These hampers are also packed by GlobalMedic’s amazing volunteers and then distributed via contactless delivery by Hand Up Toronto volunteer drivers. Since the start of Feed the Six in the spring of 2020, GlobalMedic has packed and distributed over 23,000 of these food hampers around the GTA.

Volunteers stacking boxes onto a skid. The boxes have a sticker that says Feed the Six

Volunteers standing on either side of a folding table adding non perishable food items to a box

GlobalMedic’s international and domestic food programming is possible thanks to the ongoing support of our devoted volunteers and generous donors. In celebration of #WorldFoodDay2021, we invite you to join us in the fight against hunger! Make a donation to our Emergency Relief Fund here or learn more about opportunities to volunteer with us here.

Haiti Earthquake Response 2021

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On August 14, at 8:29 ET Haiti was hit by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake that caused widespread destruction in the Sud, Grand’Anse, Nippes, & Nord-Oues Departments. Only two days later, Tropical Depression Grace passed through the country, adding landslides and flooding to the initial damage. Hundreds of aftershocks continued throughout August and September, posing even more risks to an already vulnerable population. More than 60 health facilities were damaged across the most affected departments, and 171 school buildings were completely completely destroyed, representing roughly 16 per cent of all schools in these areas. At least 83,770 homes suffered varying degrees of damage and 53,815 were completely destroyed. An estimated 2,200 people were declared dead and 329 were missing following the disaster.

Haiti has been in an ongoing state of recovery since the 2010 earthquake recovery that has already been hindered by the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent assassination of the president.

There is an urgent need for fresh water as thousands of Haitians have been displaced and many homes have been left without electricity and water. This need is compounded by the elevated risks of waterborne diseases such as cholera as well as the potential spread of COVID. Food insecurity is also a critical issue – prior to the earthquake, an estimated 4 million people were already food-insecure and at risk of hunger in Haiti. The earthquake has increased the number of people experiencing food insecurity and worsened the conditions for those already food insecure.

Rapid Response Team members and local partners loading aid into a truck to be moved to the disaster zone

Rapid Response Team members setting up an AR3 water purification system

800,000+ PEOPLE AFFECTED

650,000+ IN NEED OF HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE

100,000+ DAMAGED & DESTROYED HOMES

GlobalMedic sent prepositioned aid prior to the earthquake, including 1,600 of Family Emergency Kits, each with enough Procter & Gamble Purifier of Water Sachets to purify 2,400 litres of water. An additional 720 Family Emergency Kits were packed with Imerys Household Water Purification Units, a compact and easy-to-use system that provides families with access to clean drinking water. All of the Family Emergency Kits contained essential hygiene items such as soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste as well as solar lights. This prepositioning allowed our partner, World Vision, to immediately distribute a total of 2,320 Family Emergency Kits to families in need of fresh water.

Shortly after the earthquake, we deployed our Rapid Response Team to bring in 6 AquaResponse3 Water Purification Systems. The team collaborated with GlobalMedic’s local partners to ensure that the Water Purification Systems were put into use right away.

Volunteers in Canada assembled 400 Emergency Food Kits which were sent to Haiti by air. The kits contain dried staple foods, such as rice, pasta, green peas, corn meal, kidney beans and pigeon peas. Our local partners are in the process of distributing essential food items to families that need them most.

Following this initial response, we sent an additional 960 Emergency Food Kits, 6,433 Family Emergency Kits, 2,600,000 Aquatabs and 86,400 Oral Rehydration Salt sachets.

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