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Cowichan Green Community gets $84K to tackle food security

New program employs four job-seekers

An $84,000 infusion from the provincial government will give Cowichan Green Community the ability to employ four people and tackle local food security issues all at the same time.

B.C. Agriculture Minister Lana Popham visited the CGC headquarters on Duncan Street Friday afternoon to announce the five-figure funding for the Cowichan Food Recovery Project.

The funds come from the Community and Employer Partnerships project through the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, something the CGC has utilized before with its regional food map.

“There are so many amazing projects, but to have the community come together like this, different organizations, that’s really what the success is for long term,” Popham said. “You can just tell people here are excited about it.”

CGC’s goal is to establish a system where unused food from farmers and grocery stores is collected and redistributed to those in need, such as food banks and school meal programs — often with a little enhancement along the way.

In addition making community connections and educating the public, participants in the 38-week training program will learn to make jams and other food products in CGC’s commercial kitchen. These items will be marketed, with the goal of creating a self-sustaining social enterprise in the future.

“My whole ministry is based on food and so in my mandate we’ve got a focus on value-added with food but also innovation with food and so processing and skills-training around food processing,” Popham said. “This initiative is a great example of how community connections and skills are amplified by learning how to preserve, market and increase access of B.C.’s fresh fruits and vegetables to people who are at risk of experiencing food insecurity.”

Moe Vesey, president of the Cowichan Neighbourhood House Association, is one of the project’s many partners.

“It is our mission to reclaim as much food as possible from grocery stores and get the reclaimed food to the people that need it,” she said. “People in need come first. The healthier we all are, the stronger and better we will all be together in this community.”

CGC executive director Judy Stafford is thrilled with the financial infusion and the opportunity to make good on a project Duncan Mayor Phil Kent asked her to look into roughly seven years ago.

He had mentioned it to her back then, she said, but after several failed grant proposals, it was put on a side burner to focus on other projects. She’s happy, though, things have heated up in the food security realm again.

“Through CEP funding, we have engaged and trained numerous participants, and have implemented many community programs and initiatives that have benefited the Cowichan region,” she said. “We feel very grateful to have formed such strong community connections that have allowed so many successful graduates of the programs. Overall, these funded programs are win-win-win.”

Stafford was also pleased the provincial government saw fit to attend the announcement.

“We are really excited that we had such a good turnout today and that the ministry felt that this project was important enough for our community to be able to attend,” she said. “We have done this sort of project many times and I think this particular project has captured their enthusiasm which is always a good thing. We’re really happy that we have the four participants and to have the capacity now to work on something that we’ve been passionate about for seven years.”

She’s hoping local government will also give the project some bonus backing.

“The funding did not cover capital costs so we’ve put in a grant-in-aid request to the Cowichan Valley Regional District this year for the purchase of a van. We feel like a van is going to be a critical component of this project because we’re going to be doing a lot of pick-up and delivery of the food and so we’re really hoping we can get their support in order to get the vehicle,” Stafford said.

Learn More:

Cowichan Green Community: https://cowichangreencommunity.org/

Community and Employer Partnerships: www.workbc.ca/CEP

Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction: www.gov.bc.ca/sdpr

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Nancy Rizk and Jan MacKirdy show their culinary skills with recovered cranberries to agriculture minister Lana Popham. (Sarah Simpson/Citizen)
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Lana Popham, B.C. Minister of Agriculture, stopped by Cowichan Green Community headquarters on Friday to announce $84,000 in provincial funding for the Cowichan Food Recovery Project. (Sarah Simpson/Citizen)
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