The Stop: How the Fight for Good Food Transformed a Community and Inspired a Movement by Nick Saul and Andrea Curtis

The Stop is the story of the place by the same name. Located in Toronto, Ontario, The Stop was initially only a food bank. When Nick Saul became the executive director in 1998, he and others began to realize that “food bank handouts are not the answer to the crisis that so many low-income people are facing.” Though the group faced opposition, it eventually adopted a broader holistic mission—“to increase access to healthy food in a manner that maintains dignity, builds community and challenges inequality.”

The Stop’s focus on advocacy and justice issues makes it a unique local response to poverty. Today The Stop is a Community Food Centre (CFC) that includes gardens, kitchens, a greenhouse, and farmers’ markets; Nick Saul is actively promoting the CFC model to other interested communities. (Melville House)