In 2025, food insecurity in Scarborough continued to intensify, shaped by rising living costs, widening health inequities, and persistent barriers to access. Scarborough remains the area of greatest food bank need in Toronto—not only because demand is high, but because many residents face challenges that make traditional food support models difficult or impossible to access.
For Feed Scarborough, the year marked a shift in focus. Rather than pursuing growth for its own sake, the organization concentrated on refinement: strengthening access points, reducing friction for those most at risk, and rethinking what dignity looks like in food support. The result was a year defined less by scale and more by intention.
This evolution builds on Feed Scarborough's earlier innovation, including the launch of Canada's first online foodbank in 2020, which introduced choice-based food access through a dignified, client-centered model.
That evolution came into sharp focus through two mobile meal initiatives introduced in 2025. Together, they illustrate how Feed Scarborough is moving beyond fixed-location emergency responses toward a more adaptive, community-embedded model of care.
A Year Defined by Meeting People Where They Are
For years, Feed Scarborough has observed a disconnect between food availability and food accessibility. While food banks play a critical role, they often assume that people have the mobility, storage, and cooking facilities required to benefit from grocery-based support.
In 2025, the organization responded by operationalizing a mobile meal model that brings ready-to-eat food directly into neighbourhoods facing the highest levels of food insecurity. Designed to reach residents who cannot travel easily or lack access to kitchens, the model reframes food support as something that adapts to people's realities—not the other way around.
"Food access isn't just about what's available—it's about whether people can actually reach it with dignity. For many Scarborough residents, mobility, health, and daily realities make traditional food models inaccessible. Bringing food directly into communities is how we remove barriers and meet people where they truly are."
— Suman Roy, Chief Executive Officer, Feed Scarborough
Beyond immediate food access, the mobile platform also reflects Feed Scarborough's longer-term thinking. Outside of core service hours, it supports hands-on training for community members interested in building food-based livelihoods, linking food security with skills development and economic opportunity.
Integrating Food and Health in 2025
Another defining development in 2025 was Feed Scarborough's continued expansion into health-focused food support. Recognizing the strong link between food insecurity and chronic illness, the organization introduced a mobile model designed to deliver nutritionally appropriate meals to residents managing conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol.
Developed in collaboration with healthcare professionals, the program reflects a growing understanding that food can function as preventative care. For residents facing both medical and economic vulnerability, access to meals that align with dietary needs can reduce stress, support disease management, and improve overall quality of life.
This approach is particularly relevant in Scarborough, where diet-related chronic conditions remain prevalent. By integrating nutrition guidance into food delivery, Feed Scarborough moved beyond emergency response toward a more holistic model of support.
From Impact Reporting to Daily Operations
The priorities that shaped 2025 did not emerge in isolation. In 2024, Feed Scarborough published its SDG Impact Report, formally aligning its work with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and documenting outcomes related to food access, health, mental well-being, and community resilience.
What 2025 demonstrated was the transition from documentation to daily practice.
Rather than treating the report as a retrospective exercise, the organization used it as a framework for operational decision-making—identifying who was not being reached, where friction existed, and how services could be redesigned to better reflect lived community experience.
As leadership has noted, a significant portion of food-insecure individuals never access food banks at all. Stigma, distance, incompatible service formats, and health limitations often keep people from seeking support, even when need is acute.
By shifting toward mobile and health-integrated models, Feed Scarborough expanded its reach to populations that traditional systems frequently miss.
What 2025 Revealed About Food Security
Over the course of the year, several insights became increasingly clear:
- Accessibility matters as much as availability—food must reach people where they are
- Dignity shapes outcomes—not just experience, but effectiveness
- Food security is inseparable from health and stability—particularly for those managing chronic illness
These lessons reinforce a broader conclusion: emergency food systems cannot operate in isolation. Sustainable food security requires coordination across health, mobility, employment, and community networks.
Leadership, Systems, and the Road Ahead
At the center of Feed Scarborough's evolution is a leadership philosophy grounded in systems thinking rather than short-term fixes. Food insecurity is understood not as a temporary disruption, but as a symptom of interconnected challenges—economic precarity, health inequities, and limited access to opportunity.
At its core, this approach reflects Feed Scarborough's belief that food is a human right—and that access to food must be designed around dignity, choice, and real-world barriers.
"As we look toward 2026, our focus is on deepening impact rather than expanding for expansion's sake. Community-based organizations play a critical role in connecting food, health, and opportunity in ways large systems often can't. Lasting food security requires care that's local, flexible, and built with people—not just for them."
— Suman Roy, Chief Executive Officer, Feed Scarborough
As Feed Scarborough moves into 2026, the organization's trajectory remains measured and intentional. Progress is viewed as iterative, built through continual adjustment, partnership, and responsiveness to community realities.
In a sector often driven by urgency and short-term solutions, 2025 underscored a quieter truth: lasting change is built when food support is treated not only as aid, but as care—delivered with dignity, flexibility, and long-term impact in mind.
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