MABELLE
pantry
MABELLE
market
The Mabelle Market is closed for the winter. We hope to reopen in Spring 2025.
Mabelle Food Program
Mabelle Arts works with Islington United Church to offer a weekly food pantry on Mabelle Avenue. Operating in conjunction with Toronto’s Daily Bread Food Bank, the Mabelle Food Program provides nutritious food packages to low-income households in the community.
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM | Wednesdays, in the gymnasium at 41 Mabelle Avenue.
For more information, contact Ilia Ladouceur: ilia.ladouceur@rogers.com
Support the MABELLEmarket
Mabelle Pantry Announcement
The Mabelle Pantry Food Bank will be closing on Wednesday, March 27th, 2024.
Mabelle Arts has been operating the Mabelle Pantry since 2020, when the Mabelle Avenue community let us know that they were very concerned about access to food during the COVID-19 lockdown and as the only neighbourhood food bank closed. It has been a privilege serving the community during these uncertain times. We will now be reframing our emergency food security response into a program that centres community ownership, employment and social enterprise development as well as high-quality animation and joy, through the Mabelle Market.
We envision a community food program that foregrounds community employment and provides opportunities for Mabelle Avenue residents to learn, earn and thrive. Our Community Food Program is currently expressed as the Mabelle Market, an affordable fresh produce market and platform for social enterprise development, providing access to healthy and culturally relevant food, right on Mabelle Avenue.
Community celebration and cultural reclamation offered through a lens of beauty, nutrition and cultural relevance is the vital role food plays in our work. Mabelle Market is this critical site of gathering and celebration for community members; animated to create joy and at its core community employment. It is here that we will create lasting relationships with residents to build community leadership and strengthen partnerships that spark new initiatives and iterations of the program.
We will continue to ensure immediate food insecurity is addressed through our partners on the block and in the neighbourhood. Deep gratitude to our amazing partners and funders in helping us deliver the Mabelle Pantry.
Our Mabelle Pantry Story
Mabelle Arts began the Mabelle Pantry as a COVID-19 emergency response to food insecurity for the residents on Mabelle Avenue. This high-density block is home to more than 4,000 Central Etobicoke residents, who are disproportionately affected; largely low-income families, seniors, new immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers. Many of our neighbours had relied on food banks that closed when the pandemic hit.
The MAabelle Pantry was designed as an artful, fun, friendly and COVID-safe food pantry experience with a farmer’s market feel, providing reprieve from isolation in a safe way, while also providing regular contact with our most vulnerable community members.
We served approximately 7,000 people in the Mabelle Avenue community. Each week, we saw a 10% increase in the number of people accessing the Mabelle Pantry. We knew we were not alone. While we hoped to see a decrease in the number of people served at the Mabelle Pantry, we knew that food bank use across Canada was at a reported all-time high, with a nearly 50% increase since the start of the pandemic.
We continued to support those who needed this – particularly our most vulnerable community members until our decision to close the pantry in March 2024. The pantry provided ongoing wellness checks as folks experienced new and ongoing health challenges posed by the various phases of the pandemic.
