TORONTO, Dec. 8, 2023—Doctors in Toronto are donating $25,000 to the CBC’s Sounds of the Season campaign to support local food banks this holiday season.
“We want to bring attention to the fact that more people in Toronto are using food banks than ever before," said Dr. Hal Berman, chair of District 11 of the Ontario Medical Association, which covers Toronto.
An unstable food supply, leading to malnutrition, is one of the social determinants of health, the non-medical factors that have a huge influence on people’s health, especially chronic illnesses and lifespans.
“Food banks are not a long-term solution for people who are struggling to feed themselves and their families,” said Dr. Berman. “We hope this donation will both help to feed people this holiday season plus shine a spotlight on the issue of food insecurity in Toronto.”
Dr. Berman said doctors in his district encourage all three levels of government to work together to eliminate the need for food banks.
A recent report by the Daily Bread and North York Harvest food banks found that one in 10 people in Toronto rely on food banks, twice as many as a year ago, and there are no signs of usage slowing down.
Addressing the social determinants of health is also a major focus of the Ontario Medical Foundation, the charitable arm of the OMA.
The Ontario Medical Association represents Ontario’s 43,000-plus physicians, medical students and retired physicians, advocating for and supporting doctors while strengthening the leadership role of doctors in caring for patients. Our vision is to be the trusted voice in transforming Ontario’s health-care system.
For more information, please contact:
Leslie Shepherd, OMA Director of Earned and Social Media, at media@OMA.org or 647-300-1753.