Where possible, we now seek to hire cooks who are tenants in the Toronto Community Housing buildings we serve. This gives them a good income plus training and experience in the food service business. They also know the community best and can provide a superior service. We seek to be flexible with work hours in order to facilitate tenants’ opportunities to serve in our program. We also provide training and arrange certification as Safe Food Handlers. This experience and qualification can then be used for employment outside our program.

In 2019 and 2020, we employed seven tenants for varying periods of time as cooks in our meal program.

We also have opportunities for volunteers to assist with the meal program. We need help with shopping, food preparation and service, and meal deliveries. Volunteers help us extend the scope of our program. Again we prefer to have tenants from our buildings serve in these roles as they know the community best. We are flexible with volunteers who can serve on a regular basis, or just occasionally with our special holiday meals. For the tenant volunteers, It provides work experience and an opportunity to serve their community. For those on Ontario social assistance they are also eligible for a monthly volunteer benefit. We provide the supervision and documentation for this benefit.

In 2020 we have had the services of 20 volunteers, most of whom are tenants in our buildings.

Now in 2022 we have one tenant volunteer running our breakfast program in her building at 40 Firvalley Court. W also supported two tenant volunteers at 10 Glen Everest Road in obtaining their Safe Food Handler certification and they now assist our cook in meal preparation and distribution in their building.