Architects from around the world raising money to help feed Torontonians
CBC
From Toronto to Portugal to the U.S. to China, architects from around the world are coming together to help feed people in Toronto.
Starting Friday, artwork by close to 30 architects is being auctioned off to raise money for a grassroots food bank, called Toronto Food Not Bombs.
The pieces were all donated by architects who wanted to help the cause.
"I think that issues like vulnerable community members, community members experiencing food insecurity, homelessness, this is just everywhere," said Stephanie Davidson, an organizer of the fundraiser.
"Everyone can understand this problem."
The fundraiser comes as Toronto sees record food bank use. According to a recent annual report from the Daily Bread and North York Harvest food banks, one in 10 people in Toronto are now relying on food banks, which is twice as many as the year prior.
Davidson is from Fort Erie, Ont., and has been living part time in Toronto for about a year and a half. She often passes by Allan Gardens, where Toronto Food Not Bombs distributes food each week. It's a mutual aid group, meaning it is entirely volunteer run, and resources are shared unconditionally.
She says her fundraiser group Drawing for Food "borrowed" its concept from a group in the U.K., called Architecture for Change, which has auctioned drawings to raise money for social causes.
"I could see passing through this volunteer organization, you know, that the concrete needs were really the ... most immediate ones. And those aren't the needs that are met in these academic pursuits," Davidson said.
Toronto Food Not Bombs serves upwards of 250 people each week, according to Ryan Galloway, who is with the group.
"Most of the stuff that we get is rescued and other things that would go to waste. We only purchase less than 10 per cent of what we give out. But a lot times that 10 per cent is really vital stuff that people really need," Galloway said.
Drawing for Food is organized by Davidson, along with Georg Rafailidis, Adrian Phiffer and Eira Roberts.
Phiffer, who runs a design practice and teaches at the University of Toronto, said he was motivated to get involved in the project because of the direct positive impact it could have, and also with the hope of "changing a bit the perception of what an architect is, or what an architect does."
"Drawings are our main tool I will say, but they don't always need to necessarily lead to the construction of a building. Drawings can have another agency such as this one," he said.