Food Access: Good Food Box & Market Programs – Webinar, Dec. 11th
Posted: November 25, 2014
Categories: Food Access / GoodFoodBites / Local Procurement / News from Sustain Ontario / Webinars / Working Group News
This webinar is the second in a series of conversations around food access and policy within our network and we invite you to consider taking part. To learn more about the Food Access Peer Learning Circle (PLC) and how to be involved contact Bronwyn Clement, bronwyn@sustainontario.ca.
Credit: Sudbury & District Good Food Box.
Join us for a free webinar on Thursday, December 11th at 2-3:30p.m. to hear from the coordinators of Good Food Box and Market Programs across the province. Good Food Box (GFB) programs work to ensure that individuals and families have access to fresh fruits and vegetables through various models of centralized purchasing and coordination. Often these programs also offer community member participation, create innovative partnerships between service providers, and support local agriculture.
This webinar will be an opportunity to hear about various models of good food box and market programs, the community needs they are working to fill, and some of the best practices and common challenges from across the province. We also hope the webinar can open a discussion of how a re-vitalized Good Food Box Network could support these programs and build a common voice for engaging in policy as well as looking at other ideas of making fresh and healthy food more accessible to all members of our communities. Register Now!
Who’s coming?
We are lucky to be joined by Natasha Beaudin from Ottawa Good Food Box & Good Food Markets, Debbie Field of FoodShare, Ruth Ingersoll of Community Development Council of Quinte, Lorna McCue from Ontario Healthy Communities Coalition, and Renee Roth & Bridget King from Sudbury and District Good Food Box as they each discuss the model of their programs and specific challenges and successes. We hope many other GFB coordinators, those interested in learning more about this food access models, and other Sustain Ontario members will join us for this conversation.
Can you tell me more about the Food Access Peer Learning Circle?
Over the next few months, Sustain Ontario will be hosting a series of educational webinars and discussions to investigate, discuss, and share resources on a variety of food access topics. The peer learning circle (PLC) aims to be an avenue to strengthen existing collaborative networks, share knowledge and tools, support initiatives across the food community, and come to a place of agreement on ideas for the network and government to move forward on.
The Food Access Peer Learning Circle is one of four targeted learning circles to come out of Healthy Food for All: Healthy and Sustainable Food Systems in Ontario, a project intended to increase the capacity of local communities working towards a sustainable food system in Ontario.
Have a question or comment about Good Food Box & Market programs or the peer learning circle but can’t make it to the webinar? Post it in the comment section below and we’ll ask it for you during the webinar! Register for the webinar.
Panelist Bios
Debbie Field, Executive Director at FoodShare. FoodShare is a non-profit organization that works with communities and schools to deliver healthy food and food education. Since 1985, FoodShare has pioneered innovative programs like the Good Food Box, impacted what kids eat in school, and improved the way people eat and grow food across Toronto every day. FoodShare’s Good Food Box program distributes approximately 4,000 Good Food Boxes each month through approx. 200 neighbourhood drops.
Debbie is a long-standing activist in a variety of movements and came to FoodShare through her role as a founding member of the Coalition for Student Nutrition. During her time at FoodShare she has helped the organization expand its work in the area of active nutrition education and broaden its scope from direct service to increased advocacy and entrepreneurial activity.
Ruther Ingersoll, Executive Director at the Community Development Council of Quinte. The Community Development Council of Quinte promotes the planning and provision of health and social services to the residents of the Quinte community, with a focus on food security. They operate four food-related programs that serve Hastings and Prince Edward Counties: a Good Food Box, a Good Baby Box, Community Gardens, and Community Kitchens. In 2013, CDCQuinte distributed 12,900 boxes to over 2,600 participants; an endeavor that included packing and delivering more than 127,000lbs of produce! Program that serves Hastings and Prince Edward Counties.
Ruth Ingersoll has worked and volunteered in social service realm for over 30 years and has worked with CDCQuinte in a variety of capacities. She is the local co-ordinator for Poverty Free Ontario and the Put Food in the Budget Campaign as well as numerous local networks and committees addressing food security, public health, and poverty eradication.
Renée Roth, Good Food Box Coordinator and Bridget King, Public Health Nutritionist from Sudbury and District Good Food Box. The Sudbury and District Good Food Box is a non-profit community initiative that operates with the help of numerous volunteers, and is supported by the Social Planning Council of Sudbury.
Born and raised in Sudbury, Renée Roth is an avid cook and expert at getting kids to eat their vegetables. With a background in cultural and language studies, she likes to try new foods everywhere she travels. Renée is passionate about increasing access to healthy affordable food in her community.
Natasha Beaudin, Good Food Box Coordinator at Ottawa Good Food Box & Good Food Markets. The Ottawa Good Food Box is a city-wide program that has been working to make fresh fruits and vegetables more accessible to all people in Ottawa for the past 18 years. As a project of Centretown Community Health Centre and the Coalition of Community Health and Resource Centres, the program provides workshops on eating well for seniors, families, and newcomers. The Ottawa GFB is a partner on the Good Food Markets and the Market Mobile projects.
Natasha Beaudin has worked as the coordinator of the Ottawa GFB for 11 years. She has a background in food security (especially community gardens), not-profit management and the arts. She brings creativity and enthusiasm to the GFB and is always looking for ways to collaborate with other like-minded programs. She loves the community health model and finds it is very important to make the links between food security and the social determinants of health, especially poverty. In her spare time, she puts up preserves and cares for her garden.
Lorna McCue, Executive Director at Ontario Healthy Communities Coalition. The Ontario Healthy Communities Coalition seeks to create innovative solutions to meet community challenges and build strong, equitable, and sustainable communities through education, engagement, and collaboration. In 2010, OHCC was the lead organization for “The Future of the Good Food Box Project” that worked to improve advocacy efforts first by conducting an environmental scan in 2011 and in establishing a Good Food Network hosted by FoodNet Ontario.
Lorna McCue has an extensive background in developing and managing non-profit and community-based organizations. As Executive Director of the Ontario Healthy Communities Coalition, she leads a team of staff and regional consultants in providing training, consultation, educational resources and networking opportunities to many diverse community organizations and collaboratives within Ontario. Lorna has particular strengths in the areas of community development, community engagement, meeting and workshop facilitation, planning and organizational governance. She shares her knowledge and passion for healthy communities through presentations and articles, and has a long history of voluntary community service.
Additional Resources
“Making the Business Case for Good Food Box Programs,” The Future of the Good Food Project (2011)
“Environmental Scan Report,” The Future of the Good Food Project (2011)
“The Good Food Box Guide: How to Start a Program in Your Community,” FoodShare (2008)