Ch-ch-changes!
In the winter, we met with Evening & Weekends Consulting, and they helped us map out the general direction the Simcoe County Food Council's membership wants to take moving forward.
It was decided that, historically, we have looked through a very wide-angle lens at food insecurity issues in Simcoe County, and we need to narrow our focus a little to concentrate our energies on fewer goals at a time. With that in mind, we are reaching out to our Working Tables and getting their input on what they would like to focus on for the next two years or so. We need your help: We are also working on creating greater efficiency in how our Stewardship Group and Working Tables operate and are hard at work streamlining our systems and processes. You will notice on the above diagram that question marks are in the centre of three of the tables. That's because we are currently looking for table leads for each of them that don't rely on the Community Coordinator. Some Tables are merging and some are new. The names of the Working Tables may also change as the newly formed groups move forward. If you currently sit on one of SCFC's Working Tables and would consider taking on an open lead role that reports to the Stewardship Group, please get in touch with the Community Coordinator at foodcouncilcoordinator@gmail.com. We are also looking for more people at our Working Tables. Our Development /Communications Table is brand new and we are looking for members with fundraising and/or communications backgrounds (or a passionate interest!) to help us raise money and public awareness. Our Agriculture Working Table is expanding to include more small producers, market gardeners, and others with a vested agricultural interest in creating food security in Simcoe County. For more information, please get in touch with the Community Coordinator at foodcouncilcoordinator@gmail.com.
We're excited about creating a difference for the people of Simcoe County over the next couple of years, and we hope you will join us.
Alliston's Good Shepherd Food Bank needs people or groups who weave plastic bags into mats for the unhoused
A special request from our community partner, the Good Shepherd Food Bank. One of their volunteers is collecting the outer bags from their milk orders. These bags can be used to weave sustainable plastic mats for those in need. Unfortunately, they don't know of any person or group in the local area who are currently weaving these mats. If YOU or a GROUP you know are currently weaving these mats OR can instruct a group (possibly of volunteers) in the weaving of these mats, the Good Shepherd Food Bank has outer milk bags available for your use. If you could help them out either by taking their outer milk bags or putting them in touch with a person/group currently weaving these mats, please contact Estela at: Engtran@hotmail.com
Barrie Native Friendship Centre is looking for food donations
The Wasaga Beach Ministerial Food Bank is looking for donations of:
Sunscreen
Bug Spray
Sand Toys
Life Jackets – for children and adults
Bundle Buggies/Folding Grocery Carts – new or used
The food bank is open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10AM to 1PM and Thursday evenings from 6:30P-8PM to receive donations.
The food bank is located at 818 Mosley Street--in the same plaza as Canada Post.
Our September Community of Practice presentation will be looking at this project.
Want to know more about food rescue?
This September, Maggie Bain, the Pilot Operations Lead for the Guelph Community Health Centre's SEED project, will be giving us a presentation on their food rescue pilot project. Businesses and organizations in Guelph and Wellington County are diverting food waste to compost and donating surplus food to their communities. The SEED, in partnership with the Circular Innovation Council, is offering this food waste diversion pilot program as a dual-purpose solution to businesses and organizations in the area, with the goal that no food becomes waste. This pilot is a low-cost, holistic solution that delivers local environmental and social impact. The SEED uses a social enterprise model to run this pilot, alongside other programs, by using business principles to achieve social goals. From their email:
How does the pilot work?
If you have food that is no longer sellable but still edible, we can save it from the waste stream – free of charge! The SEED team coordinates a network of dedicated volunteers and agencies to collect surplus food from your business and delivers it to community serving partners to help feed local families in need of food. If you have organic waste that needs to be composted, we provide once-per-week collection of your organics - as a Collective, our goal is to keep the price as low as possible by cost-sharing equitably amongst our participants. We consolidate collections among as many neighbouring businesses as possible to negotiate better pricing for participants. This collection service is similar to residential green bin collection. Efficient, consolidated collection lowers the cost of diverting food waste to compost. 36 million tonnes of food waste is generated in Canada every year, leading to unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions and food insecurity. Be part of the solution. Stay tuned for the date!
Until next time,
Your friends at the Simcoe County Food Council
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