Donate
At Food For Life, every little bit of help goes a long way to providing food for families in need. We offer a variety of ways for you to to make a financial donation:
Online
Food for Life collects online donations through these secure sites:
At both sites, you can use your credit card or existing account, to make a secure online donation to us.
By Mail
Food for Life welcomes direct donations. Please send a cheque to:
Send a cheque to:
Food for Life Canada
Box 52121 Oakville, ON L6J 7N5.
Tax receipts are given for donations over $10.
We also accept gifts of securities, allowing you to save the capital gains tax! Please contact us today for more info.
Through United Way
If you would prefer to donate through United Way, you can direct your donation to us by designating
“Food for Life Canada, Oakville” as the recipient of your donation.
Donate Food
Food for Life would be pleased to collect your company's surplus product on a regular basis.
We collect baked goods, fruits and vegetables, prepared foods, meat and dairy. We will provide a reliable pick up service for your donated food. There are no waste management expenses and no pick-up or delivery costs. Products are handled, stored and shipped with care to ensure the integrity and safety of the product.
We accept (click here for our Food Donation Guidelines):
- Fresh, frozen, prepared and raw foods including meat, produce, dairy, juice and fresh or frozen meals
- Non-perishable foods, canned and/or packaged
- Surplus, close to code, damaged, mislabelled and discontinued products.
Food suppliers are protected by the Good Samaritan law (An Act Respecting the Donation of Food, Ontario 1994. To know more about this act, click here) by which donors who give food in good faith are absolved from any liability.
Food safety is a priority at Food for Life Canada. The Food for Life food quality and safety standards policy is available on our website. In addition, Food for Life adheres to the Halton Public Health “Food Safety Guidelines for Food Banks” which provides a comprehensive standard guideline for food quality and safety standards. The document is a resource for staff and volunteers to share information on food safety, and to ensure that the food items are safe for consumers.
To donate food or receive more information, please call our office at (905) 510-5724 or (905) 635-1106 (warehouse).
Volunteer
"Nobody can do everything but everyone can do something"
Food for Life volunteers give more that little something and combined all of you help Food for Life accomplish a little bit of everything. The Food for Life volunteers drive, collect, pack, co-ordinate, weigh, lift, carry, load, deliver, fundraise, network, direct and donate.
We are always looking for individuals who have a heart to help. You can help in a variety of ways:
Cobs Bread/Bakery Volunteers
- Volunteers help with food pick-up once a week
- Volunteers pack unsold bread at Cobs Bread (Lakeshore Rd. & Thomas St. in downtown Oakville or at the new Upper Middle/8th line location)
- Volunteers deliver it to our storage facility located at Kerr Street Ministries.
The job is completed in approximately an hour from 6:50-7:50 Monday through Saturday, 5:50-6:50 Sunday at the Lakeshore location and 7:50-8:50 Sundays through Saturdays at the 8th Line location.
Volunteers need a car and the current need is for drivers who can take responsibility for one night per week or two nights per month.
Food for Life provides on the job training.
Volunteer Drivers
Food for Life needs volunteer drivers for the Food for Life truck, mainly for weekends.
Volunteer drivers pick-up and deliver food to community organizations and needy families, usually about 1,500 pounds per day
If you are interested, you need to provide a drivers' abstract (the cost is reimbursed) and you need to be in reasonable physical condition, i.e. able to lift and carry cartons of food which occasionally may weigh as much as 60 pounds.
Saturday takes about 5-7 hours - Sunday is usually 3-4 hours of work
Food for Life provides on the job training, accompanying our full-time driver or experienced volunteer.
Volunteer drivers indicate their availability at the start of each month, so you can choose a specific number of hours/days that suits your schedule.
You can also choose to work with a buddy, which makes the work day shorter and more enjoyable.
Volunteer Driver Assistants (often students fulfilling the 40 hours)
- assist with loading and unloading food from vehicle
- assist with packing or re-packing food in containers or bags
- weighing containers of food
- we offer student volunteer credit hours
Lunch Money Day – Special Event
Small teams of volunteers will spur GO Transit riders at four Halton GO Stations to contribute donations to Food for Life. The event is to encourage people to donate the money they would have spent on lunch to our fresh food charity.
Volunteer Signup
If you are interested in helping those in need in our community, please contact Charlotte Redekop-Young at Food for Life: 905-510-5724 or fill the form: