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Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow is a step closer to realizing one of her top priorities, after the city won an international innovation challenge that will help it create a community food hub pilot project.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the document laying out the mayor\u2019s 2026 budget, the first initiative mentioned is the city\u2019s school food program, touting an expansion of a free morning meal from 73 to 228 schools. The ultimate goal is to achieve a universal lunch program by 2030.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The city now has an extra $1.4 million to get there, with expert advice to go along with it, courtesy of the 2026 mayor\u2019s challenge contest by Bloomberg Philanthropies. <\/p>\n
Toronto is one of 24 cities that won the innovation challenge out of more than 630 applicants.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’re not just feeding kids, we’re rebuilding how food gets to them,\u201d Chow said last Tuesday at an announcement about the award. \u201cBuying in bulk, cutting costs, supporting local farmers, and creating jobs for parents and community members right here in our city.\u201d<\/p>\n
WATCH | The program feeds hundreds of Toronto students:![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1772448249_889_default.jpg\")
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How this school food program feeds hundreds of Toronto students<\/p>\n
Students at Thorncliffe Park’s Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute are learning in more than just a traditional classroom. Volunteers are in the kitchen, learning how to cook sustainable meals. It’s all part of a breakfast and lunch program, which services hundreds of students in the school while also meeting the needs of a diverse student population.<\/p>\n
The prize money will help the city with the logistics of creating the food hub that\u2019s supposed to do all that, but funding from higher levels of government will remain a fundamental piece towards actually achieving the 2030 goal.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What is a school food hub?\u00a0<\/p>\n
The school food hub idea is essentially about using the sheer scale of the project \u2014 getting a free morning meal and lunch to every student in Toronto \u2014 to its advantage.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThink about every school in town, think about if they were all local restaurants,\u201d said Debbie Field, national coordinator for Coalition for Healthy School Food, the country\u2019s largest school food advocacy network.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously they’re not going to get the best price. But when you can consolidate this and can show a supplier that you’re buying for a multitude of schools, you can get a better price.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Field, who worked with the mayor\u2019s office on its application for the prize, said that bulk buying not only drives down costs, but makes it easier to source the food from within Ontario.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She said there may be an apple farmer who would never drive into Toronto to deliver to one school, but could now truck in crates of apples to be delivered somewhere that has distribution infrastructure, like the North York Harvest Food Bank. The food bank could then divide the shipment up into smaller deliveries within the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, we’re going to be able to increase the quality of the food, the local food and get a better price,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While the food hub may sound like one location, Field said it may actually need to be several spread out across a city that\u2019s as big and congested as Toronto.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At the North York Harvest Food Bank, executive director Ryan Noble said the pilot project will also be an opportunity to demonstrate how delivering a school food program in partnership with a non-profit like his can also create jobs.<\/p>\n
WATCH | Canadian food banks record millions of visits:![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1772448249_756_default.jpg\")
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Canadian food banks record over 4 million visits this year<\/p>\n
The Daily Bread Food Bank in Toronto is seeing a spike in young adults, between the ages of 19 and 44, in need of a food bank. The CBC speaks with the food bank\u2019s CEO, Neil Hetherington.<\/p>\n
The North York food bank has a program where people who come to get food can sign up for warehouse job training, earn a forklift licence and get work with the non-profit\u2019s private sector partners.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Other levels of government needed to achieve goals<\/p>\n
When it comes to achieving Chow\u2019s vision, Field said the city will need financial help from higher levels of government.\u00a0<\/p>\n