Our 10^th annual Waffles in the Warehouse was a huge success! Thanks to our generous community, we raised over 55,000 meals for people experiencing food insecurity in Waterloo region.

Every September, community members are invited into our distribution centre to learn more about The Food Bank and the powerful impact we have in nourishing our community. This year’s event took place on September 22 and was presented by Aire One Heating & Cooling KW.

Over 100 attendees enjoyed a delicious breakfast while networking with each other and listening to live music from Steven Ashton of The Bulletproof Brothers Band. After breakfast, attendees heard from Kim Wilhelm, interim CEO of The Food Bank of Waterloo Region, who discussed the rise in food insecurity and increasing need for food assistance in our community. Kim shared that 1 in 10 households is now accessing a food assistance program in Waterloo region. In 2021, that number was 1 in 20 households.

To humanize this number and give hunger a face, we shared 10 stories from participants and service providers to educate our community that there’s no typical food bank recipient and there are many reasons a person may need food assistance.

One of these stories was delivered by local Métis Chef Sydney Keedwell. Sydney is the chef at Aadanjige Café and Catering as well as the food and nutrition coordinator at White Owl Native Ancestry Association, a youth-led non-profit that provides support and programming to Indigenous people. Sydney shared her personal experience growing up in a food-insecure household. Visit our blog to read all the stories we shared.

Thank you so much to all who attended. Your support of this event helps us feed the more than 40,500 people in Waterloo region struggling to afford to put food on the table. We would also like to thank our sponsors: Aire One Heating & Cooling KW, Travers Law, GHD, Joseph & Co Inc., Melloul-Blamey Construction, The RaeLipskie Partnership, Cachet Homes, Purolator, Five9 Solutions, Kitchener Utilities, Fastenal, Henry Walser Funeral Home, SG Cunningham, Terry Howald Pools, and Wolle Realty Brokerage. And a big shoutout to our in-kind sponsors: AV Ontario, Belgian Nursery, Canadian Linen, and Zehrs Laurentian.