This year's Thanksgiving Dinner Meal Boxes will be delivered on Tuesday, October 3rd, 2023. And with these meal boxes, we're treating our program recipient's to Kawartha Dairy's 1.5L tubs of specialty Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream! But for those who might not be up for taste-testing a tub this big, we're also giving recipients the option of choosing either Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream or an actual 8-inch Pumpkin Pie from Fox's Bakery & Deli.
These meal boxes are valued at $147 but only cost $46 thanks to all our lovely food donors and suppliers who're providing this food either for free or at a reduced price.
Thanksgiving Dinner Meal Box Items:
4L Milk, Kawartha Dairy
Turkey (3-5kg Turkeys depending on family size), Farm Boy
Cranberry Sauce, Ocean Spray
Turkey Gravy Mix, Club House
1 lb Butter, Alliston Creamery
Turkey Stuffing Mix, Stove Top
Loaf of Bread, Fox's Bakery & Deli
2 lbs Onions, Harris Farms
Squash, Harris Farms
Up to five pounds of potatoes, Harris Farms
Celery, Gaetano's Green Acre Farms
2 lbs Organic Carrots, Cookstown Greens
3 lbs Apples, 4 Wheel Farm
Various Desserts, Don's Bakery
1.5L tub Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream, Kawartha Dairy OR 1 Pumpkin Pie, Fox's Bakery & Deli
10-Pc Morning Rounds, Ozery Family Bakery
Various Portuguese Pastries, Caldense Bakery
Various Frozen Meats, Nick's No Frills & Goodness Me! Natural Food Market
Sponsor a Low-Income Family Before Sept. 17th
We'll be delivering at least 100 Thanksgiving meal boxes on Oct. 3rd but if you'd like to sponsor an additional family, then you can still do so until Sept. 17th! The latest we can place our turkey order with Farm Boy is Sept. 18th. The cost to sponsor a family is $46 (turkey sizes are 3-5kg and reflect family size) and you can donate either through CanadaHelps, e-transfer: ffwbarrie@gmail.com (please send an email to the same address with your legal name and address for a charitable tax receipt) or, PayPal or credit card through the website. Also, if your company would like to sponsor several families via wire transfer, please contact Leah Dyck directly at: ffwbarrie@gmail.com.
Apply for a Thanksgiving Meal Box
If you're a low-income family and would like to apply for a Thanksgiving Meal Box, please apply by filling out our online application form. If a Thanksgiving meal box becomes available, we'll reach out to applicants in chronological order of their submission date. Please note, to be eligible you must:
Reside in Barrie or Innisfil.
Be low-income.
Provide proof of income before being approved. This means you'll need to submit a picture/screenshot of your most recent ODSP statement, OR O.W statement, OR bank statement that clearly shows the total deposits made between Aug. 1st and Aug. 31st, 2023. If a spot becomes available for you, we'll ask you for this information at that time.
Ripple of Kindness Votes on Fresh Food Weekly
On Aug. 16th, 2023, the Ripple of Kindness (ROK) - Founding Chapter - Barrie, announced they had selected Fresh Food Weekly as the charitable recipient for their September round of funding. Wow! Thank YOU cannot describe our gratitude for this funding! It's come in right at the perfect time.
For those of you who're unfamiliar with Ripple of Kindness, they're a charitable organization comprised entirely of women. These women come together and raise funds for local charities of their choice, four times a year, simply because they want to make their community a better place. Every three months, these women vote for a local non-profit/charity to award the funds to, and to date, they've awarded more than $660,000 to local charities in the community since 2016!
For the September round of funding, 22 charities were nominated to be voted for, and Fresh Food Weekly received 60 percent of their votes! This money is expected to be +$30K and will allow us to continue serving our current 80 families for the next six months, as well as add an additional 20 new families for the next six months!
As a result, we've offered these 20 new program openings to clients of the Barrie Native Friendship Centre and we're absolutely thrilled to be able to do this, all thanks to Ripple of Kindness Barrie.
Harvest Dinner Fundraiser
In addition to being chosen by ROK, Fresh Food Weekly has also been chosen by Christ Church - St. Jude's Anglican Church in Thornton, who's hosting a Harvest Dinner fundraiser on Sept. 30th. The money raised from this fundraiser will go towards paying for the turkeys in our first 100 Thanksgiving meal boxes.
