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GREATER TORONTO

Rice, peanut butter and . . . tamarind sauce?'Flavours from home'drive calls for creativityin food bank donations

VANESSA LUSTAFF REPORTER

Flance wins the World Cup.WelI, sort of. The World Cup di-

verse food drive, that is, organizedby employees at the Bank of Mon-treal's Manulife Centre building.MarkAdler and Marie Cosentinq

who co-chair the diversity councilof the personal and commercialbanking division, c€une up with theidea to link interest in the soccertournament with a food drive forthe North York Harvest Food BankEach floor adopted a country

competing in the World Cup andurged staff to contribute beyondthe traditional staples like whiterice, pasta and peanut butter.

'TV'e wanted to raise awareness ofthe need - and new immigrantsmake up a huge number of peoplewho use the Norttr York food banlg'said Mler. '?eanut butter and jamand macaroni and cheese aren'tcomfort food for them."

Called Flavours from Home, theidea is an initiative of five DiverseCity fellows who are committed tofinding ways to improve life. Ttreidea started with Andreas Berriqone of the fellowg who relied onfood banla when he first immigrat-ed to Toronto from Colombia.Though he had spent several years

TARA WATTON/TORONTO STI

Marie Cosentino and Mark Adler, who organized a food bank drive at theBank of Montreal, encouraged donations to appeal to different palates.

in the United States, he never devel- bank But that got him and his teamopedatasteforpeanutbutter. thinkingabouttheneedtobroadenHe eventually collected 2O jars, therangeoffooddonations.

which he donated back to the food *Ifs about taking what you and

your family would eat. If all of usthink that way, we're so diverse herethat the stuff in the hamPers willchange," saidAneil Gokhale, one ofthefellows.

The bank employees are a com-petitive bunch, and France - ttteeighth floor - came out on toP,

donating 973 items out of 3,768 inall during the three-week drive.The collection now fills 18 giant

bins that will be delivered to thefood bank Wednesday. It includesthe usual cans of chicken noodlesoup and bags of pasta but alsobasmati rice, falafel mB JaPanese

soba noodles, Thai curry and tama-rind sauce.

'TV'e all knowhowimportant foodis to or.u cultural identity. If youreceive a hamper with a food thatyou recognize and like, it will leave apos itive feeling-' said Anette Chaw-14 executive director of the NorthYork Harvest Food Bank

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