Donate $1,000 to a food bank and this guy will ride the GO train as a radish
For every $1,000 he raises for the North York Harvest Food Bank, he commutes a day as a radish
Josh Neubauer knows you're looking at him.
Maybe you're trying to figure out what he's wearing. Though he's often confused for a pepper, a tomato, a strawberry, Neubauer is on his two-hour commute dressed as a radish.
"I'm embarrassing myself for a good cause," Neubauer told CBC Toronto on one of his morning radish commutes.
His socks match the red of his radish sack costume, and his bright green baseball cap has felt leaves dangling off the sides. He has felt tags that hang off his hat and sack, telling the people staring at him what he is and what he's doing.
Neubauer is chair of the board for the North York Harvest Food Bank, and for every $1,000 he raises, he commutes one day — from Hamilton to Toronto and back — dressed in a radish costume made by his mother-in-law.
"I thought a radish was a little sillier, more ridiculous, so people might ask a few more questions," he said.
His commute from Hamilton takes him on the bus, the GO train, walking, cycling — all with him smiling and greeting his fellow commuters to spread the word about what he's doing.
"A spokes-radish," he jokes.
Fellow commuter Isabel Almeida donated $10 to Neubauer on the GO train.
"I thought you were a tomato," she laughed. She gave Neubauer her contact information.
"I'd love to know how you're doing — that's great."
Neubauer says $1,000 translates into about 3,000 meals for those who need them. The food bank serves 16,000 people per month.
"Supplies get low in the summer so it's a critical time for the food banks," said Neubauer, who works as an urban planner.
He has so far raised $6,000, triple his original goal. That's six days commuting as a radish, but Neubauer has no intention of hanging up the leaves.
"I'll keep going as long as the support continues," he said.
"If people keep supporting me, I'll keep commuting as a radish."