That hard work doesn’t stop now, though, as the agency must continue to meet certain benchmarks in order to maintain that recognition.
Launched in 2024, Food Banks Canada’s Standard of Excellence program works with more than 4,750 food banks across the country to provide a framework for best practices.
The program looks at food banks’ governance, food handling, daily operations and client-based services to make sure they meet rigorous standards before approving them.
Community Care CEO Betty-Lou Souter said she is “extremely proud of everyone” involved in achieving Food Banks Canada’s high recognition.
“We all worked extremely hard. It was a great day of celebration … acknowledging we were meeting the standards at the highest level,” she said.
Souter said the accreditation opens different avenues and access to different donors by heightening the organization’s profile.
“People will have great comfort in knowing when making a donation to Community Care, there’s rigorous policies and procedures around how it is used,” she said.
“It also demonstrates leadership within the community, how we’re working together and … lets people know we adhere to things that make the consumer comfortable.”
Souter said the program will improve daily-use systems “to ensure people have the ability to live with dignity and purpose.
“By having the same standards, we can share learning as there’s a collective impact when working together on the food security system nationwide,” she said
Food Banks Canada CEO Kirstin Beardsley said each food bank’s timeline for accreditation depends on what is needed to meet minimum requirements.
“The Standards of Excellence program provides a framework for food banks to identify opportunities for innovation and performance improvements,” she said. There are 79 baseline standards in six key areas: governance, finance, people management, client care, fundraising and food safety.
“When more food banks become accredited, it reflects the food banking network’s thought leadership and commitment to continually enhance our collective capability to relieve hunger today and prevent hunger tomorrow,” she said.
Souter said the accreditation process made the organization look at its policies and procedures to update and streamline them.
“There’s always policies that change, from time-to-time, based on where they’re coming from,” she said. “(For example), we have stainless-steel tables, so there’s a sanitation piece to meet the standards of public health … so this is at a much more integrated level.”
She compared the endorsement to the “(Good) Housekeeping seal of approval” for an organization to show commitment to “treating everybody with dignity and respect” while delivering exceptional services.
Souter said food banks can access information, which allows them to ensure best food handling practices among other benefits.
“We have daily updates from our network telling us if there are issues with food, for example, if there’s recalls,” she said.
“We have that right at our fingertips. So … if there’s something recalled, we get this through the network and we can go and take it off our shelves.”
Training within the organization will continue as food banks are ever evolving, Souter said. This continuous training through the program is required to maintain accreditation.
“It’s an ever-moving target for many things … but it’s never over, because we need to continually renew them and looking at them on an ongoing basis, so we have a process in place on how many we’re going to review through our risk management committee,” she said.
Matthew P. Barker is a St. Catharines-based general assignment reporter for the Standard.
