Gloucester Emergency Food Cupboard

What Gloucester Emergency Food Cupboard does

Gloucester Emergency Food Cupboard (GEFC), also operating as the Gloucester Community Food Bank and Gloucester Community Food Centre, is a federally registered charity (Registration No. 132864943RR0001) founded in 1989 to provide emergency food assistance to residents of North Gloucester in east Ottawa, Canada. The organization runs four core programs: Community Food Share (seven days of nutritionally balanced food delivered monthly to residents in need), Community Garden (household growing plots including the Arrowsmith Thyme-less Community Garden), Plant-a-Row, Share-a-Row (PARSAR) (a volunteer-tended 1/3-acre farm plot at Just Food Farm that channels home-grown produce back into the food supply), and the New Roots Farm Program for Refugees (in partnership with Just Food, supporting refugee farming families). Food is distributed by appointment only from a relocated site at 2339 Ogilvie Road (Beacon Hill Shopping Centre) three days per week, with appointments made the day before collection.

GEFC operates a non-commercial, donation- and grant-funded model. The revenue mix consists of inbound food donations (channeled through Ottawa Food Bank membership and community food drives), cash donations from individuals, and grant funding from the City of Ottawa and other foundations (Dominion City, Mazon Canada, Ottawa Community Foundation, Lions Club). The underlying technology is intentionally minimal: a volunteer-run food banking and distribution operation with no proprietary software, no digital products, and no technology stack beyond a public website and community outreach assets. The organization is governed independently with no parent company and is part of a broader Ottawa food-security network that includes the Ottawa Food Bank, Just Food, Ottawa Community Food Partnership, Sustain Ontario, and Food Secure Canada.

In March 2026, GEFC relocated to a higher-visibility retail location at the Beacon Hill Shopping Centre, with OC Transpo bus routes 12 and 24 providing direct access. The organization serves up to 4,000 residents annually with a small, volunteer-led operating model. Revenue figures are not publicly disclosed; program scale and the absence of any paid headcount or capital-intensive infrastructure indicate a small operating budget relative to mid-sized food banks in the region.

Name

Gloucester Emergency Food Cupboard

Legal name

Gloucester Emergency Food Cupboard

Website

https://gefc.ca

Company type

Private

Founded year

1989

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Gloucester Emergency Food Cupboard is a federally registered charity founded in 1989 that provides emergency food assistance to up to 4,000 food-insecure residents annually in North Gloucester, Ottawa, through community food distribution, a community garden, and a refugee farm program.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Food Bank

NAICS

Community Food Services (62421), Emergency and Other Relief Services (62423), Community Food and Housing, and Emergency and Other Relief Services (6242)

akta.pro primary industry

Food Assistance & Food Banks (BPAGAEAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Food Assistance & Nutrition Relief (Emergency Feeding) (BPAGAAAD), Food Assistance & Safety Nets (In-Kind, Vouchers, Cash Transfers) (BPADAJAA)

Keywords

• Emergency food assistance
• Community food bank
• Food distribution program
• Community garden network
• Refugee farming support

Headquarters

HQ city

Ottawa

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Supply Chain, Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Food Donations: Receives food donations from the Ottawa Food Bank, community members, and through organized food drives to distribute to residents in need
2. Cash Donations: Cash donations supplement food donations, allowing purchase of staples including fruit, vegetables, milk, eggs, meat, bread, healthy children's snacks, and personal hygiene products
3. Government Funding: Receives funding support from the City of Ottawa and other funders including Dominion City, Mazon Canada, Ottawa Community Foundation, and Lions Club

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Gloucester Emergency Food Cupboard (GEFC) is a community food bank that provides seven days of nutritionally balanced food to residents in need living in North Gloucester, Ottawa, usually on a monthly basis. The organization operates four interconnected programs: Community Food Share (emergency food distribution), Community Garden (household food growing), Plant-a-Row, Share-a-Row (PARSAR, encouraging home-growers to donate produce), and the New Roots Farm Program for Refugees (in partnership with Just Food). GEFC sources food through Ottawa Food Bank membership, cash donations, community food drives, and a volunteer-tended 1/3 acre farm plot at Just Food Farm.

Product overview

Gloucester Emergency Food Cupboard (GEFC) is a community food bank providing emergency food assistance. Founded in 1989, the organization operates several interconnected programs: Community Food Share provides food to residents in need; Community Garden enables households to grow their own produce; Plant-a-Row, Share-a-Row (PARSAR) encourages community donations of home-grown food; and the New Roots Farm Program supports refugee farmers. The organization also operates a farm plot at Just Food Farm for growing fresh vegetables to share.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Community Food Share Emergency food distribution program providing seven days of nutritionally balanced food to anyone who lives in North Gloucester, usually once per month. Sourced through Ottawa Food Bank membership, community donations, funds raised, and produce grown at the Just Food Farm site.
• Community Garden The Arrowsmith Thyme-less Community Garden enables North Gloucester households to grow their own food. Operates as part of the Beacon Hill Community Garden Network.
• Plant-a-Row, Share-a-Row (PARSAR) A city-wide program encouraging people who grow food in community garden plots or at home to donate surplus produce. GEFC maintains a volunteer-tended 1/3 acre plot at Just Food Farm under this initiative.
• New Roots Farm Program for Refugees In partnership with Just Food, supports refugee families who were farmers to grow their own food and learn about farming in Canada, helping with settlement and food security.

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Ottawa Food BankcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGEFC is a member of the Ottawa Food Bank, receiving food supplies through this partnership to distribute to local community members in need
• Just FoodcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to operate a 1/3 acre farm plot at Just Food Farm. Also runs the New Roots Farm Program for Refugees, supporting refugee families who were farmers to grow their own food and learn about farming in Canada
• Ottawa Community Food PartnershipminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNetwork of community food organizations working together to address food security in Ottawa
• Sustain OntariominorStrategic or Co-development PartnerProvincial food policy organization promoting sustainable food systems
• Food Secure CanadaminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational food security advocacy organization
• Beacon Hill Community Garden NetworkminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNetwork connecting community gardens in the Beacon Hill area
• OC TranspominorOthersPublic transit partner providing access via bus routes 12 and 24 to the food bank location

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Greater Vancouver Food Bank: Western Canadian regional food bank distributing food directly and through member agencies, operating on a comparable nonprofit food-banking model with member-agency distribution.
• The Mississauga Food Bank: Community food bank serving a defined geographic catchment (Mississauga) with client-choice hampers and food-distribution programs, structurally comparable to GEFC's neighborhood-level model.
• Calgary Food Bank: Major Western Canadian food bank operating emergency food hamper distribution and community programs with a similar charity/nonprofit structure.
• Ottawa Food Bank: Regional food bank that aggregates and redistributes food across Ottawa-area member agencies including GEFC. Operates the same charity-food-distribution model and shares GEFC's donor and volunteer base in the Ottawa market.
• Daily Bread Food Bank: Toronto-based community food bank distributing food through member agencies and direct programs. Closest functional analogue to GEFC in another major Canadian city, with a comparable client-choice and dignity-based distribution philosophy.
• Moisson Montréal: Large Quebec food bank providing emergency food assistance and supply redistribution to community agencies — a regional analogue to Ottawa Food Bank with a similar member-agency model.
• Second Harvest: Canada's largest food rescue organization operating a food banking and redistribution model that combines surplus-food recovery with community food distribution across multiple provinces.

Broad incumbents

• Feed Ontario: Provincial association of Ontario food banks providing coordination, advocacy, and supply support to member food banks including those serving the Ottawa region.
• Food Banks Canada: National umbrella organization representing the Canadian food bank network. GEFC is indirectly connected through its Ottawa Food Bank membership and Food Secure Canada affiliation.

Emerging players

• Just Food (Ottawa): Ottawa community food organization operating Just Food Farm — the site of GEFC's PARSAR farm plot and New Roots refugee program. Direct operational partner with partial overlap in food-security programming.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/gloucester-emergency-food-cupboard

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Gloucester Emergency Food Cupboard