The Food Security Fund: Fighting Childhood Hunger, Starting in Toronto

How a powerful new Cause Fund is addressing food insecurity, and empowering donors to be part of the solution.

The Food Security Fund exists to build a future where no child goes to school hungry, and where the communities most affected by food insecurity lead the solutions.

In a country as abundant as Canada, it’s hard to fathom that 1 in 5 people live in food-insecure homes. In Toronto, the impact is especially stark: Black communities experience food insecurity at 3.5 times the national average, and nearly half of all food-insecure children identify as Black.

That’s why this Cause Fund was created.

Led by Support Black Charities, executed by Sixty67 Group and powered by Charitable Impact, the Food Security Fund brings together a team of community and culinary leaders who believe that feeding children is the foundation for lasting change.

It exists for donors who want to help address food insecurity – but aren’t sure where to start or how to make their giving go further. This Cause Fund offers an informed, strategic, and collaborative way to make schools hunger-free, starting in Toronto and scaling outward.

Meet the Leader Behind the Fund

The Food Security Fund is led by Anick Silencieux, Founder and Executive Director of Support Black Charities. With a mission to elevate the Black community through partnership and action, Anick brings deep insight into the systemic roots of food insecurity – and a bold, community-first vision for solving it.

Supporting Anick is a group of trusted advisors with deep expertise and knowledge, lived experience and strong connections across the food, business, and nonprofit sectors. Among them:

• Tim Fray, a business developer with four decades of experience in the food industry, focused on closing the gap between food waste and hunger with scalable, sustainable solutions.
• Chef Robert Rainford, an acclaimed chef, educator, and advocate for zero-waste kitchens, best known as the host of Licence to Grill and author of Born to Grill. His motto? “If I can do it, you can do it.”

Why Food Security Matters

Food insecurity isn’t just a food issue. It’s tied to housing, income, and systemic inequality. And it doesn’t impact all communities equally.

That’s why the Food Security Fund places an intentional focus on supporting Black communities in the Greater Toronto Area – those most affected and too often underserved. By tackling the issue where it’s most urgent and empowering Black communities to lead the way, the Fund helps drive solutions that benefit everyone.

As Anick puts it, “Food is the easiest of the hard problems to solve. We can start now, with meals, with infrastructure, with education.”

While public policy plays a vital role, this is about acting now, alongside government efforts, to deliver practical solutions that don’t wait for red tape.

A Fund Grounded in Dignity, Strategy, Scale and Collaboration

The Food Security Fund is building something rare in Canada: a scalable, community-led food hub model rooted in dignity and sustainability. Rather than reinvent the wheel, the Fund aligns and strengthens existing efforts across schools, nonprofits, kitchens, and communities. As Tim Fray puts it: “We’re not reinventing the wheel—we’re coordinating it.” This approach avoids duplication and makes every dollar stretch further by sharing resources, infrastructure, and insight.

The strategy focuses on three pillars:

Distribution – Getting healthy, culturally relevant food into the hands of children and families who need it most. This includes meals, raw ingredients, and meal prep resources.

Education – Teaching communities how to reduce food waste, repurpose ingredients, and grow their own food. “You can make your own paprika from a pepper,” Chef Robert likes to remind people. “It’s doable.”

Pipeline & Infrastructure – Creating long-term supply chains, vendor contracts, and storage systems to ensure a reliable flow of food—not just short-term aid.

This isn’t a band-aid; it’s a systems-based solution that scales.

A Trusted Model, Powered by Charitable Impact and Led by Cause Experts

The Food Security Fund is built on Charitable Impact’s Cause Fund model—a giving approach designed to make charitable donations easier, more strategic, and more impactful.

Cause Funds work like a mutual fund for giving: your donation is pooled with others and entrusted to expert Cause Leaders, who carefully select and guide it toward charitable programs they know will make a difference. 

What sets this model apart is that Cause Leaders don’t just lend their names. They actively set the Fund’s direction, evaluate organizations, and make strategic grant decisions. Their lived experience and sector knowledge guide exactly where your donation goes, so you don’t have to navigate that complexity alone.

This model blends heart and strategy. Many donors care deeply about issues like childhood hunger, but knowing how to make the biggest difference can feel overwhelming. Where should you give? Which organizations are effective? What works long-term?

That’s where Cause Funds come in. You bring your values, generosity, and desire to help. The Cause Leaders bring deep, on-the-ground insight to help carry the weight of those decisions. 

It’s not about doing less. It’s about giving with purpose and precision, led by people who know what works and where support is needed most.

By giving through the Food Security Fund, you’re not just helping address school hunger, you’re partnering with leaders who’ve spent years learning what works. Your giving goes further, because it’s guided by experience, strategy and care.

What Success Looks Like

Here’s what the Food Security Fund is doing right now, and where it’s headed next:

• Laying the foundation: Building kitchens, food trucks, and storage facilities to power a food hub model rooted in local partnerships—serving school-age children through community centres and community organizations.
• Piloting solutions: Testing a scalable program at a community centre in the GTA to learn what works.
• Listening first: Conducting needs assessments to understand what each school community truly needs to thrive.
• Expanding with purpose: Scaling into at least three more high-need areas using data and community insight.

But that’s just the beginning.

The long-term goal is to build a national network of food hubs anchored in trusted local community centres and community organizations – led by those closest to the need, supported by civic and private-sector partners, and fuelled by donors like you.

As Tim puts it: “We’re not just delivering meals. We’re building a system our community can rely on.”

How You Can Help End School Hunger

If you care about food insecurity, you know the toll it takes on children, families, and communities. You also know that while awareness is growing, solutions often fall short, especially in the communities hit hardest. The Food Security Fund was created to help change that: not with short-term fixes, but with lasting, community-led solutions that meet people where they are.

Your gift helps:

• Provide meals and food education
• Build lasting infrastructure
• Restore dignity and choice for families

As Anick says: “Start where you are. Whatever you have—time, funds, skills—bring it to the table.”

Whether you’re giving for the first time or deepening your generosity, this Cause Fund offers a simple, powerful way to help.

The Food Security Fund is live – and fuelled by your generosity. 

Donate today, or help spread the word. Whether you give, share, or invite others in, your support fuels a community working toward a simple, powerful vision: No child should go to school hungry.

Visit foodsecurityfund.ca