GUELPH – A food access pilot project in Guelph will soon bring the “FUN” to Centre Wellington.
Guelph MP Dominique O’Rourke has announced $1.39 million from the Public Health Agency of Canada’s Healthy Canadians and Communities Fund will go to the University of Guelph, which is overseeing the Food Uniting Neighbours (FUN) project.
Until now the project has focused on improving food access for low-income residents in the Onward Willow neighbourhood in Guelph and the announcement was held at the Shelldale Centre on Sept. 26.
The program has been very successful, officials say, and with additional funding, they feel the time is right to bring it to Centre Wellington.
Dr. Jess Haines, professor of applied nutrition and Dr. Ashleigh Domingo, assistant professor of human health sciences, are co-leading the project, which strives to reduce barriers to nutritious food by empowering residents to identify challenges and find actionable solutions.
The Guelph project started in 2022 and in that time 12 community advisors – people who live in the Onward Willow area and have struggled to buy food – were hired to pool their experiences and their thoughts and to devise an action plan to alleviate some of the barriers to accessing healthy food.
Transportation was identified as a barrier to getting to the food bank and the grocery store, so community advisors purchased carts to help residents carry food home.
They also partnered with the Community Health Centre, which provided rides to the Guelph Food Bank.
They hosted six cooking workshops to help residents learn how to prepare healthy food and to stretch it further; how to use vegetables from the community garden; and introduced attendees to a variety of spices and how to cook with them.
They handed out grocery store gift cards, which allow residents to choose what they want to buy.
They held gardening workshops to help residents learn how to grow their own food.
And they held “community cafes,” at which free meals and social time were offered at the Shelldale Centre to anyone who cared to attend.
“We’re incredibly proud of the impact at Onward Willow and believe this model should be implemented across Canada,” Haines said. “So now we’re working to bring it to Centre Wellington.”
Centre Wellington Food Bank manager Curt McQueen attended the announcement and said he’s excited to learn what the program will look like locally.
“It will be up to the community advisors,” he told the Advertiser following the event, adding the Guelph team is seeking 10 advisors who live in Centre Wellington and have lived experience of food insecurity.
McQueen said the project so far has tackled a neighbourhood. Moving it to a municipality will bring its own challenges, but hopefully solutions as well, he said.
For example, it might be difficult to find a central location for gathering and sharing food like the Guelph project was able to do.
And without a bus service, transportation might be a bigger issue in Centre Wellington than in Guelph.
“It might be pop-up locations instead,” McQueen said. “We don’t know that yet, but I love that they are taking on that challenge.”
He said the food bank is part of a team that meets to tackle food insecurity that also includes family health teams, local government, churches and service groups.
The FUN project will be driven by community advisors and the community itself, “but we will look to support their ideas,” McQueen said.
“Good health is foundational to all other aspects of our well-being, our participation in the community, at home and at work,” said O’Rourke.
“When community partners build bridges with people, we are investing in their health, laying the foundation for communities that are healthier, more equitable, connected and more empowered.”
