“I always try to remember our goal is create lasting change in the lives of the people we help.”
That’s how The Olive Tree looks at all of its programming, according to COO Jana Thompson.
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The Olive Tree began operation in 2013, first barbecuing hot dogs and hamburgers on a lawn downtown.
“It’s been pretty cool to watch it grow for so many years,” said Thompson.
They operate a number of different programs, such as Homebase, food link, senior hampers and a senior luncheon, men’s outreach, women’s outreach, a mom group, school support and hampers.
In 2025, the organization distributed 9.6K food hampers, served 15K meals, supported 960 children through the Gift of Christmas, gave 11.2K volunteer hours, housed and supported 50 Homebase families and individuals, graduated 12 Homebase clients and saw 15.6K program visits.
The backbone of The Olive Tree is the community.
“We always say our volunteers and the community members, our local businesses and corporate offices, those are the ones that support us,” said Thompson. “(Without them), we wouldn’t have seen this growth and they all see the need.”
She says they understand some of their clients may not be able to make it to one of their locations to pick up food.
“We also have hubs around the city to make transportation less of a barrier for people,” she said. “We want to make it easy to support those families that don’t have a vehicle.”
Their seniors’ programs also include food delivery.
“We have a lot of seniors outreach programs,” Thompson explained. “We go into the low-income seniors’ homes once a week to deliver fresh food to them.”
While serving food and meals is a major part of The Olive Tree’s model, they also look to build connections in the community with a mom group.
“All the kids get childcare and do activities and then the moms either get to learn something or do something fun and connect as a group,” she said, noting they also have something for the men.
“We have men’s coffee; that’s a men’s outreach once a week and everybody gets together and visits and it’s all (about) building connections.”
Thompson says they are looking to tackle isolation people may feel in the community.
“We see a lot of isolation and it happens at all stages of life,” she said. “We created these programs so we can connect with people and not only serve a meal but also build a deeper connection to those deep-rooted issues.”
While some of their operations have moved to the northern portion of the city, much of the work still happens out of the Fred North Community Centre.
“That is still where we distribute hampers out of,” she said. “That also houses our social enterprise or thrift store.”
The thrift store works to support the community in more than one way.
“People can come and get a voucher. They sit down, fill out an application,” said Thompson. “If they’re in need of clothing or specific items, they can come and shop for those there.”
The Olive Tree also opened the Reclaim Used Furniture Store after seeing a need for a store to sell larger items.
“Reclaim is the larger items and antiques and all those little oddities that people love to look for when they’re out thrifting,” she said.
Their new north warehouse now plays host to their food bank operations.
“All of the food that we pick up or get delivered comes here,” said Thompson. “We sort through it, we clean the produce, we do all the legwork and hands-on stuff.”
Food rescue plays a big part in their operations. She said when the idea crossed their table, Thompson and The Olive Tree CEO Becky Schille were still doing all the food hauling and pickups.
“What I did, I went into the grocery stores and asked if they would be willing to donate produce or specific items that are at their best-before-date or just before their best-before-date so we could utilize it in our food bank and our meal programs,” Thompson explained. “We still do that, five days a week.
“We go out to many different locations where there’s a grocery store, some chains.”
Homebase has been a success for The Olive Tree as they look to provide support to make their clients successful long-term.
“Right now, we have 47 clients, that’s not including family members within that,” she said. “We have a lot of children (33 in the program) and we have a lot of seniors that we have helped find housing and navigate that system.
“Our whole goal of the homebase program is to help the unhoused find suitable housing. Our team goes in and provides wraparound services.”
Thompson says they’ve had plenty of graduates who just needed a little help.
“We’ve had some amazing graduates and some of them just needed a helping hand to get on their feet again,” she said. “Within six months, we’ve had a couple graduate that program and move because they found work in a different community and are doing really well there.”
She says navigating the system can be quite difficult.
“So many of them lose help when they’re in the world they live in,” said Thompson. “That endless cycle of problem after problem and trying to navigate systems they don’t understand. Maybe they don’t have the proper resources to even try and start to navigate them. Whether it’s a lack of ID or a computer or how to fill out paperwork properly without getting sent back.”
The Olive Tree is always in search of donations and volunteers. Information for those items found at Theolivetree.ca.
“We take all types of food donations. We take monetary donations, that’s very helpful,” she said. “We aren’t sustainably funded; we aren’t government funded.”
Looking forward to what 2026 has in store for The Olive Tree, Thompson says it’s a good time to look back.
“I feel like it’s a year of refinement,” she said. “Figuring out how best our programs can serve the community and do we need to make any changes or adjustments to make sure we are creating a positive change in people’s lives.”
While they will be reflecting on their programs and efforts to better the community, she says they still have some exciting things planned.
“We have a couple of exciting things planned, our Gift of Christmas program is going to change this year and we’re very excited about it.”
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