Staff and volunteers with Feed Scarborough, a non-profit focused on addressing food insecurity in the east end of Toronto, are looking to rebuild their community farm after it was damaged in a fire.
The untimely fire at the organization’s farm with community garden beds, located on St. Clair Avenue East close to the Scarborough GO Transit train station, came within a week of two acts of alleged vandalism. An old, donated TTC bus set to be repurposed as a mobile food bank and the Feed Scarborough commercial truck used for critical deliveries were covered with graffiti.
It was at around 3 a.m. on July 8 when a worker at a nearby business spotted the fire and called 911. Staff with Feed Scarborough said Toronto Fire Services crews were able to extinguish it a short time later.
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“It is devastating,” Suman Roy, the founder of Feed Scarborough — also known as the Scarborough Food Security Initiative, told CityNews in an interview on Tuesday.
“What are people thinking if it is intentional? And if it is not, I think it’s a big accident. But what could have happened is what I worried the most.”
During a tour of the site on Tuesday, manager Sukhmani Singh showed the intensity of the flames. Decorative light bulbs along with part of the bumper of the bus were melted. He said the hose used to bring water from roughly 200 feet away was also melted. The small, white decorative fence at the front of the garden was fully burned and later removed.
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Singh and Roy said they are thankful that many of the garden plots used to grow more expensive and culturally diverse types of produce like okra and eggplant were spared from the flames.
CityNews contacted the Toronto Police Service to ask about the matter. A spokesperson said in a brief statement that officers are looking into the matter and an investigation is still being carried out. They said there were no other updates to provide yet.
Meanwhile, Roy said he and others at Feed Scarborough are hoping for financial or volunteer support from those who might be able to assist.
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“We need money to buy stuff and get the truck painted, get the bus painted, buy materials for the fence, and then help in building the fence … so then we don’t have to contract out and spend more money,” he said.
Click here to access Feed Scarborough’s website.
