WELLINGTON COUNTY – Community members gathered at The GrandWay the night of Oct. 22, to learn about Well Fed Wellington, which is a new initiative that is largely the brainchild of the Centre Wellington Food Bank.
Curt McQueen, Centre Wellington Food Bank’s executive director, said the idea is to expand upon existing food bank services, providing a stigma-free line of support and to address the geographical challenge of living in a rural community.
One of the founding partners is local car dealer Reliable Ford; they are providing a refrigerated van so the Centre Wellington Food Bank can deliver fresh food across the County.
Reliable’s business development manager, Justine McCabe, said supporting the food bank was a no-brainer.
Well Fed Wellington was able to kickstart thanks to a $1 million donation from Jim Balsillie and the Balsillie Family Foundation | Mik Horvath
Another partner is the Fresh Box Market and they will be supporting the food bank by providing their expertise and an extra helping hand in the affordable pop-up produce markets, planned to start next spring.
Fresh Box Market co-owner Man Vo said this partnership will help the Centre Wellington Food Bank skip right over some challenges that may have been experienced in a more typical start-up.
Co-owner Caitlyn Debrusk said this is simply another way to help out the community, with a great initiative to boot.
Vo said this partnership and involvement is the next step in getting closer with the residents of Wellington County and addressing their needs.
Centre Wellington Food Bank’s community impact manager, Courtney O’Neill, said some of the work to launch Well Fed Wellington is quite visible, but a lot also happened behind-the-scenes to orchestrate a project at this scale and the work will continue.
Courtney O’Neill said it was incredible to see so many community members show up for the launch event | Mik Horvath
The launch event also featured some guest speakers including a politician, a retired doctor and social workers.
Peter McPhedran is a retired physician with 40 years of experience and has been spending his retirement being involved with his community.
McPhedran emphasized the phrase “food is medicine,” and said “diet is an integral part of treatment of many illnesses.”
He said it was amazing to see the community gather and deliberate about food insecurity in not only Centre Wellington, but the whole of Wellington County.
McPhedran said these support systems are so important because keeping people fed can prevent heart conditions for example, which would decrease the intakes into local hospitals.
Local MPP Joseph Racinsky said there were some great discussions that night, and said primary care is an important factor in addressing food insecurity in Centre Wellington.
-
- Joseph Racinsky addresses the crowd | Mik Horvath
-
- McPhedran said food bank usage, food insecurity and housing insecurity are continuing to increase | Mik Horvath
Racinsky said the night’s gathering a testament to how effective the collaboration between multiple organizations can be.
The Centre Wellington Food Bank is encouraging anyone who wants to support the project to check out their website and for any potential volunteers to reach out.
