Weston Area Emergency Support (“WAES”) is a critical part of the community infrastructure in the Weston Village neighborhood in Toronto. As a food bank, WAES is instrumental to ensuring that folks have their basic food needs met. This was especially critical for vulnerable community members in 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns and the end of CERB payments. For most of 2021 WAES saw an average of 1,800 visits per month, with an increase to 2,350 visits for the last two months of the year. Seniors were 8% of the users pre-pandemic, which doubled to 16% during 2021. More and larger families began using the food bank. 30% of the users are under 18 years of age. And 76% of the overall users are BIPOC.

Castlepoint Numa is proud to support WAES in its imperative mission to care for Weston community members.