The Capacity for Food Abundance

How Collective Effort Turns Good Food into Shared Good

Every day, thousands of pounds of good food move quietly through our city — from grocery stores and distributors, through warehouses and kitchens, into the hands and homes of neighbours. Much of it might have once been overlooked or discarded. But in the right hands, with the right relationships, that same food becomes something extraordinary: abundance.

At the London Food Coalition (LFC), abundance isn’t just a word. It’s a way of seeing the world — one that challenges the myth of scarcity and replaces it with a story of connection. We believe there is more than enough food to go around. What’s missing is the coordination, capacity, and collective will to ensure it reaches everyone. That’s where collaboration comes in.

Across London, more than 25 agencies, food programs, and community kitchens partner with LFC to collect, sort, and redistribute surplus food to where it’s needed most. Together, we divert hundreds of thousands of pounds of high-quality food each year from landfills into community meals, hampers, and events that nourish both body and spirit. But perhaps even more important than the food itself is the message it carries: when we work together, abundance grows.

From Surplus to Shared Tables

Partnerships like the one between LFC and the Glen Cairn Community Resource Centre (GCCRC) show what’s possible when local organizations come together with a shared vision of care. Glen Cairn’s food programs are powered in part by the good food collected by the LFC network — food that might once have gone to waste, now transformed into nourishment for families, seniors, and youth across the city.

This fall, Glen Cairn is taking that partnership one step further — and inviting the whole community to experience what food abundance truly tastes like.

On Friday, October 25, GCCRC will host Fall Flavours: A Tasting, a unique fundraiser where guests will enjoy a curated tasting menu created from locally donated and rescued foods — including ingredients sourced through the London Food Coalition. The event isn’t just about sampling seasonal dishes; it’s about tasting what’s possible when generosity meets creativity.

Each bite tells a story of collaboration: the grocer who shared what was left, the driver who delivered it, the volunteers who sorted it, and the chef who transformed it. Together, they show that abundance doesn’t come from having more — it comes from sharing more.

You can learn more or reserve your spot here:👉 Fall Flavours: A Tasting – Glen Cairn Community Resource Centre

Building the Capacity for Abundance

Behind every meal served through our partner network lies a chain of care — refrigerated trucks, storage space, sorting stations, volunteers, and community leaders who believe in better systems for food sharing. This is the invisible infrastructure of compassion that the LFC helps build and sustain every day.

When we talk about “capacity,” we don’t just mean equipment or logistics. We mean the capacity to care — the ability of a city to organize itself around the well-being of its people. Food abundance is not an accident. It is designed, built, and maintained by relationships: between donors and distributors, agencies and volunteers, neighbours and friends.

Every apple saved, every loaf delivered, every meal served is a small act of resistance against waste and want. Together, those acts become a movement — one that reimagines how we nourish our communities and our planet.

Participate in Food Abundance

You don’t need to be a chef, a farmer, or a food distributor to be part of this story. You only need to believe that everyone deserves good food, and that the food we share says something profound about who we are.

You can participate in food abundance by:

• Supporting community events like Glen Cairn’s Fall Flavours Fundraiser — where your ticket helps fuel programs that feed thousands.

• Volunteering your time with LFC or one of our partner agencies — sorting, collecting, or delivering food to where it’s needed.

• Becoming a donor or partner — whether you represent a grocery store, restaurant, or business that wants to make surplus food part of the solution.

• Spreading the message — that food prosperity, not food insecurity, is the future we are building together.

A Call to the Table

The story of abundance is a story of us — of a city learning how to care for itself by caring for each other. When we collect together, connect together, and nourish together, we discover something powerful: that there was never a shortage of food, only a shortage of imagination.

This fall, as the harvest comes in and kitchens fill with warmth and flavour, we invite you to take your place at the table. Experience what food abundance looks like — and tastes like — when a community works as one.

Collect. Connect. Nourish.

That’s how abundance grows.