The food already exists

In January 2025, Kingston declared a food insecurity emergency. Council put $200,000 toward local food programs.

The declaration was right. But here's what I'd already learned building Kingston Food Rescue: this isn't mainly a shortage problem.

Grocery stores throw away food that's perfectly good. Restaurants and caterers do the same. Meanwhile people two blocks away are choosing between groceries and hydro.

The food exists. The need exists. The connection between them is broken — and a broken connection is an engineering problem, not a moral one.

What that takes

Cold chain. Volunteer drivers. Scheduling. Liability agreements. Somewhere to store things. It's unglamorous logistics, and it works when someone builds it properly.

That's what Kingston Food Rescue does, and it's why every Good Neighbours Co-Housing home is designed with a Weathering Centre — shared storage for rescued food and staples. Housing and food security in the same building, because for the people living it they were never separate.

Why this is a council issue

Food isn't usually treated as municipal infrastructure. It should be.

• Storage and distribution space, including underused City-owned buildings
• Health and permitting rules that make donation easier rather than riskier
• Emergency food capacity as part of resilience planning, alongside power and water
• Community gardens and growing space protected in the Official Plan
• Funding that's stable enough to plan against, instead of renewed in a panic each January

What I'd push for

• A food infrastructure inventory — what exists, what's missing, what it costs
• Underused City space made available to food organizations at nominal cost
• Municipal food capacity written into emergency planning
• Multi-year funding so organizations can hire and plan
• Outcomes published, so we know whether it's working

The food exists. The need exists. The connection between them is broken — and a broken connection is an engineering problem, not a moral one.