Communities coming together to increase access to healthy food
Posted: April 2, 2020
Categories: Edible Education Network / Food Access / Food in the News / Food in the News / Good Food Ideas for Kids / GoodFoodBites / News from Sustain Members / Schools
A food box from OSNP-Southwest Region for families of school children
A number of organizations across the country have been working hard to address the rising concerns around children’s lack of access to healthy food in the midst of COVID-19 and widespread school closures.
The Coalition for Healthy School Food has just shared a blog post on how their members have been busy redirecting their efforts and funds to address the interruption in school food programs: Mobilizing Communities to Increase Access to Healthy Food while Schools are Closed.
Check it out to learn more about these innovative efforts, including the Ontario Student Nutrition Program, Southwest Region, who are offering Good Food Boxes available at pick-up tents throughout Windsor and London; FoodShare Toronto, who have ramped up their door-to-door Good Food Box deliveries; and Roots to Harvest, who are making wholesale purchases to put together weekly healthy meal packages for families to pick-up throughout Thunder Bay.
Of course, many other organizations across Ontario have also been working tirelessly to support their communities through this difficult time, particularly surrounding food security and access to healthy food. Food insecurity is already an alarming issue in Canada, with PROOF reporting that 1 in 8 households in Canada are food insecure. Amidst COVID-19, these issues are intensified, with food banks seeing significant increases in demand.
This Hamilton Spectator article details some of the great work going on in Hamilton, thanks to Hamilton Food Share, Mission Services, the Neighbour to Neighbour Centre, and Food4Kids Hamilton. And this Now Toronto article highlights some of the great initiatives in the Toronto area, thanks to The Stop, Community Food Centres Canada, Second Harvest, Black Creek Community Farm, Building Roots, and the Daily Bread Food Bank.
Kudos to all.
If you would like to support any of these organizations, be sure to visit their websites, linked to above.
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