A generous donation to a Toronto organization will be providing local families in need with an invaluable Christmas present: fresh, healthy food.

Two thousand families will be able to have a home-cooked meal thanks to an anonymous gift of $50,000 to FoodShare, a local non-profit organization that provides families with fresh produce.

Volunteers are hurrying to pack food provided by local farmers and the Ontario Food Terminal, after the donation was finalized last week.

Heidi Pyper, spokesperson at FoodShare Toronto, says that families will have access to “nourishing, fresh produce” just in time for the holiday season.

“Most holiday food donations collect non-perishable items, but our food boxes are providing fresh and nutritious produce straight from Ontario’s food terminal to families that don’t have as much,” she said.

After receiving the large donation, Pyper says that food distributors and farmers have been providing a helping hand in working with the agency, as well as waiving a few shipment fees due to the generous donation.

“We have a list of volunteers who have been packing boxes for days,” Pyper said. “We only had four days to make it happen after hearing news of the donation last week.”

The families will receive three pounds of apples, five oranges, cranberries, a head of lettuce, butternut squash, cabbage, a two-pound bag of carrots, a two-pound bag of onions, a 10-pound bag of potatoes, bananas and pineapples. About 51 per cent is local food.

“It’s incredible,” said Linda Curley, manager of community engagement at the Birchmount Bluffs Neighbourhood Centre.

The Birchmount centre is just one of many other non-profit community centres that have been working with FoodShare to provide low-income families with fresh vegetables and fruit. Others include the Mount Dennis Neighbourhood Centre, Islamic Social Services, Rexdale Health Centre, Good Neighbours Good Food Market at Toronto Community Housing, and UNISON Lawrence Health Centre. All are United Way agencies.

“In a way it’s unfortunate that more families are unable to have this fresh food, but the generous donation will help stretch out food boxes for the next year,” Curley said.

Curley says her organization has been able to raise donations to give holiday toys and presents to children during the holiday season. But the food donation came as a total surprise.

“Now we’ll be able to stretch out donations all-year-long to our families,” Curley said. “Just the other day, a mother came in excited to receive her fresh box of food. She told me ‘it’s soup season’ — they’re so happy to receive fresh food.”