Loving Spoonful
OPIRG has initiated a project in cooperation with the National Farmers Union, Partners in Mission Foodbank and the Peace and Justice office of the Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent De Paul to recover surplus perishable food from grocers and restaurants to be used in meal provider programs and other community agencies. The project will combine food reclamation with supporting locally and sustainably produced food. This project, called Loving Spoonful, began in January and will run for 43 weeks. It is being coordinated by Susan Belyea and was made possible through funding from the Healthy Community Fund and the Canadian Unified Students Environmental Network (CUSEN) along with resources and support from all the partner organizations.
To date the research phase of this project has established several things. Through consultation with potential partners in this initiative we have discovered that there is indeed a growing need among meal providers for more fresh, nutritious perishable food and that grocers and restaurants are eager to be a part of this project. Through discussions with farmers we have identified several ways in which local, sustainably produced food can find it’s way into meal-providing programs in Kingston. We are in the process of crafting a clear mission statement outlining the mandate of the project and addressing the ways in which it fits into a broader anti-poverty perspective. We are working out the details of the pilot project which we intend to launch in May, 2008.
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For more information please contact Susan at cfdi[at]opirgkingston.org