Drop-In and
Food Access

Essential Supports

The Drop-In provides free access to healthy meals and snacks daily, prepared by volunteers and served with dignity. The Drop-In provides access to phone, fax and internet, showers and laundry facilities, volunteer opportunities, informative and skill-based workshops, and personal support for community members.

The Drop-In comprehensively addresses multiple aspects of poverty by providing support for housing and employment seekers. Program staff assist participants with tasks like resume writing, and completing social assistance applications or government forms. There are also activities for community health and wellness, such as fitness classes and health education workshops.

CONC is honoured to be a recipient of a Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) Capital grant. This funding will go towards much needed repairs at our Drop-In at 848-854 Bloor west. The CONC Drop-in operated throughout the pandemic providing both hot nutritious meals and emergency programs & services to those in need in the Bloor-Ossington corridor. Daily over 300 hot meals are provided and each week over 100 food hampers are distributed to our service users. The growth in demand for our services has made the building improvements supported by OTF essential. We are very grateful for their much-needed support.

The Breaking Barriers Program

The Drop-In is also an effective access point to enhanced, targeted individual engagement with Life Management, Health & Wellness, Employment and Housing staff teams. These four teams work collaboratively to support participants in building more stable lives. For needs that go beyond program activities, and to contribute to building a supportive, expansive network for each community member, program staff teams draw on relevant connections and partnerships to provide tailored resources and referrals.

Food Bank

Recent reports from the Ontario Association of Food Banks state that low income adult and senior individuals are most in need of programs that reduce food insecurity. That evidence supports the increase we’ve seen in participants visiting the program primarily for food on a regular basis. Our sole-support parents food bank (currently under construction), that runs in tandem with the Drop-In, supports over 200 community members each month. Individuals who are leaving a shelter for more stable housing also gain access to the food bank for 9 months to a year, to support this important transition.

Community Building
Events & Activities

Our Drop-in hosts a number of events throughout the year to foster community engagement and inclusiveness.  We strive to provide a place of celebration and organize unique experiences that encourage new friendships and a place of belonging during the times of the year where our participants may feel an increased sense of social isolation. Through these activities we are able to strengthen bonds within our social groups, such as our seniors group and men’s and women’s sharing circles.

We host daily community engagement activities, such as trips to Toronto landmarks like Centre Island and daily walking club, in addition to providing community meals during holidays, like our Canada Day BBQ, Thanksgiving meal or year-end holiday banquets.  Volunteers and in-kind and monetary donations are the driving force that allow CONC to provide this kind of programming to our community.  We are deeply grateful for the outside support we have received over the years and the lasting bonds we have been able to make because of this work.

Art Therapy

Our Drop-In is creative! Participants are offered the chance to express their artistic side through art therapy. The group is run each week which presents a new opportunity for community members to create art based on a common theme or a personal idea.

The art is displayed in various ways around our agency, or participants are invited to take their work home. The works have also become an integral part of community celebrations that the Drop-in organizes throughout the year; celebrations such as our Canada Day BBQ, where the participants’ art work was proudly and prominently displayed for the enjoyment of the larger surrounding community.