Urgent Food & Essentials Fund

Funding Opportunity
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A grocery basket and a woman holding an orange

The Urgent Food and Essentials Fund is administered by United Way to support local nonprofits that are already running food and essentials programs. It is made possible with funding provided by the Province of Nova Scotia.

The Urgent Food and Essentials Fund will provide funds to community organizations to offer:

  • groceries and grocery store gift cards
  • food for food banks or publicly accessible pantries/fridges
  • essentials like menstrual products, shampoo, diapers, toilet paper etc. 
  • meal kits and meal programs

This fund prioritizes opportunities that offer dignified, choice-based approaches to food and essentials and offers support to people who are most affected by food insecurity.

Due to the overwhelming demand for the Urgent Food & Essentials Fund, we are pausing applications until further notice for United Ways in Halifax, Colchester & Cumberland, Lunenburg and Pictou.

We have received a large number of applications and want to ensure we have sufficient dollars to fund eligible applications before accepting more. If your organization has already applied for funding, your application will be considered.

We understand that this may be disappointing news. We hope you can remain patient as we work through the current applications.

Please apply according to the community you serve.

United Way Halifax

Serving Halifax Regional Municipality, East Hants & Shelburne County

United Way of Colchester County

Serving Colchester County, Cumberland County & West Hants

United Way of Lunenburg County

Serving Lunenburg and Queens counties

United Way of Pictou County

Serving Pictou, Antigonish and Guysborough

If you require further information or assistance, please email the following address and a member of our team will get back to you.

Email: foodandessentialsfund@unitedwayhalifax.ca 

For organizations outside these areas:

For organizations in Annapolis, Kings, Yarmouth, and Digby counties (where no United Way service is available) please contact:  FoodSecurityDCS@novascotia.ca to discuss how you can access the Urgent Food and Essentials support.  

For organizations in Cape Breton, please visit United Way Cape Breton’s website for details.