More than 11,000 people in Sault Ste. Marie struggle with food insecurity and poverty, creating a serious impact on the physical and mental health of our community. Finding ways to fight back against hunger in the Sault is more important than ever.
“The pandemic has been hard on a lot of families,” said Sara McCleary, Marketing Manager, St. Vincent Place. “We’ve been seeing a steady increase in the number of clients coming to our food bank and soup kitchen each month. With the cost of food set to increase even more in the coming weeks and months, we expect those numbers to increase even more while making it more costly to stock our shelves.”
Community members continue to step up.
For seven consecutive years, Northside Toyota has helped take on hunger in Sault Ste. Marie through the Fill the Toyota campaign. With the support of the community, the program is on track to make its greatest impact yet.
“We understand the need to fight food insecurity in our community is greater than ever and Northside is proud to be supporting St. Vincent Place and the Soup Kitchen through our Fill the Toyota campaign,” said Mario Palumbo, Dealer Principal, Northside Toyota. “The level of generosity we’ve seen from community members and other local businesses to date has been inspiring and we look forward to continuing to help drive down hunger in Sault Ste. Marie.”
This year’s Fill the Toyota is bigger than ever.
Local businesses, including Northside Toyota, have generously matched the first $1,000 in community donations as part of the 2021 campaign. “This year, with the support of 15 other local businesses, we can donate $16,000 in monetary funds plus canned goods,” added Palumbo. Matched donations were made available online earlier this month through SooToday.
Although online donations are closed, there is still time to help.
The Fill the Toyota campaign is currently taking place until December 22. Donations can be made at Rome’s, Pino’s or Northside Toyota. Non-perishable food can be placed in the ‘Fill the Toyota’ vehicles at each location. Monetary donations will also be accepted at grocery checkouts.
“It always means so much to St. Vincent Place when we see the community banding together to help organizations like ours and the Soup Kitchen,” said McCleary. “The support of businesses and individuals is vital to the work we do.”
“Campaigns like this [Fill the Toyota] have a tremendous impact on the community,” added Soup Kitchen Community Centre Chef Will Hurley. “Any contribution counts. It's nice to see a sense of community in the Sault.”
All donations in the Fill the Toyota program will stay in our community, supporting both the Soup Kitchen and St. Vincent Place.