{"id":37860,"date":"2026-04-02T15:40:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T19:40:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=37860"},"modified":"2026-04-09T16:00:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T20:00:32","slug":"sustainability-demand-sees-significant-shift-for-welcoming-arms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/sustainability-demand-sees-significant-shift-for-welcoming-arms\/","title":{"rendered":"Sustainability, demand sees significant shift for Welcoming Arms"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Welcoming Arms has served community members in need since 2006, but as their 20th<\/sup> anniversary of service approaches this fall, the ecumenical volunteer organization is making a significant shift in operations to meet growing demand in a sustainable way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This week, Bridging the Gap, one of Welcoming Arms\u2019 many programs will see the launch of a new program \u2013 Meals Plus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meals Plus, which will provide Bridging the Gap clients with three frozen meals a week, is a year-long pilot project to maximize sustainability within the program which is billed as a \u201cplace of friendship, hope, and a caring listening ear,\u201d connecting individuals to local resources while also providing them with household supplies, gift cards, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pivot towards Meals Plus will see Welcoming Arms place increased emphasis on meal distribution rather than gift card distribution in what they hope will be a more financially sustainable model to meet growing community demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were looking at Bridging the Gap and looking at the length of stay [of clients] in the program and thought, is there a way we can more sustainably offer something that directly addresses food security and keeps that connection with people who use our services? Quite honestly, we were looking at the cost of running a grocery gift card program and it\u2019s just absolutely phenomenal and not sustainable,\u201d says Sally Freitas, Executive Director of Welcoming Arms. \u201cWe wanted to say we, \u2018We can help you, but in a different way.\u2019 That\u2019s where Meals Plus comes in \u2013 transitioning people from grocery gift cards to frozen meals, we can still continue to offer support, but we can do it in a way that is more sustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Freitas says gift cards have often been seen as \u201cbest practice\u201d in this particular sector, there is greater funding available for food programs, such as community meals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Welcoming Arms developed Meals Plus based on the Good Food Impact model out of Stouffville. Once they had all the details in place, including a generous donation from the Aurora Hewy Golf Tournament, which Freitas says was enough to fund the program for about half-a-year, 10 volunteers were hard at work Monday morning preparing the meals out of the kitchens at St. Andrew\u2019s Presbyterian Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The shift towards a meal program is sustainable on another front as well; the new structure enables Welcoming Arms to take part in food rescue programs, such as Flashfood, that distribute surplus meat, produce, and more, sometimes at discounts of more than 50 per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe can rescue food so, in theory, our ingredients costs can halve,\u201d says Freitas. \u201cIt\u2019s really fantastic. If farmers reach out to us, which they do in the seasons, we can take what\u2019s cleared out of their fields and are able to use that. We partner with the York Region Food Network and we host their Market once a month, and if there\u2019s leftover produce from there or any of their other markets, we can purchase that at cost and use that. The overarching theme is a very practical response to food insecurity in a population that we have already been serving. We\u2019re able to offer them a very tangible solution to the issue they\u2019re facing and also participating in food rescue and keeping food out of the landfill. It\u2019s really a big win-win.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also helping to make the Meals Plus program a reality is Aurora\u2019s Cube Packaging, which has donated containers for clients to take home their meals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got people in the community who are so generously offering their time and that\u2019s unbelievable,\u201d says Freitas. \u201cYou\u2019ve got people who say, \u2018Yes, I want to cook. I want to help you plan your meals. I want to help you grocery shop. We want to help distribute meals.\u2019 The response from the community has been really outstanding.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Meals Plus program has been greeted warmly by Bridging the Gap clients as well, although the true measures of success will start to be noted when the program formally launches this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor the most part, [we\u2019ve been hearing things like], \u2018Oh, my gosh, where has this been? We don\u2019t have to buy ingredients. We don\u2019t have to worry and fuss about.\u2019 Mothers of young kids are saying this is fantastic, and I think typically men living alone are saying it\u2019s an incredible thing to be offering,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s difficult for some people because gift cards are considered best practice [as] it lends itself to so much autonomy. You can go in and make your choices. What we\u2019re saying is we\u2019re not stopping grocery gift cards, we\u2019ll be offering them for a period of time, and then there\u2019s going to be all kinds of things coming along with the grocery gift card program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to include a community resource assessment; in the beginning, Bridging the Gap was a program that was started by a couple of ladies in the community who attended a couple of the churches and the original thought was we want to connect with people in the community who may be experiencing challenges in their life and the gift card was sort of a way to get people through the door. \u2018Hey, come in and chat with us. Let\u2019s see what we can work out together.\u2019 Over time, the focus has been on the gift card and that\u2019s not necessarily the focus on our programs; our programs are about building community capacity, building individual capacity, connecting, and offering that listening ear.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having that listening ear will be key in the success of Meals Plus as well, as they solicit feedback from clients to make sure the new frozen meals are meeting the mark and hitting the spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur purpose is to address food insecurity, to be able to offer a program that\u2019s absolutely sustainable, so that it doesn\u2019t interrupt well-established relationships between our volunteers and our program visitors, and even in between program visitors. I think Meals Plus is a wonderful solution to a program that was increasingly not sustainable and just finding a way to continue to offer services and outreach.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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