Grow fresh food. Share fresh food.
Fresh for All is a community engagement initiative encouraging gardeners and farmers to donate fresh produce to local food programs. The regional project is managed by United Way Hastings and Prince Edward. In Prince Edward County the initiative is coordinated by The Food Collective (formerly known as the Vital Signs Food Security working group) and produce is donated to the Storehouse Foodbank, the Picton United Church Food Bank, and the Picton Salvation Army. Fresh for All was inspired by the Grow-a-Row program, started in Winnipeg in 1986, and Plant a Row for the Hungry, developed by the Garden Writers Association of America in 1995. Community projects based on these models have sprouted up all over North America. At the heart of the Hastings-Prince Edward initiative is a campaign to create awareness of food issues in the community and to motivate participation in what’s not simply a charitable project but a community development project. Although some grow-a-row projects get involved in delivering the produce, Fresh for All connects growers with food programs, leaving the delivery up to the grower. Rather than another managed food program, Fresh for All is a community-owned movement. The shape it takes depends on how the community moves it forward.The Fresh for All website www.freshforall.ca features a description of the initiative, concise instructions for how to get involved, and maps showing the location of food programs that have agreed to receive Fresh for All donations. These maps include pop-ups displaying address, delivery times and contact information for each location.
Goals of the campaign are to: Cultivate a Caring Community: bringing together gardeners, those who wish they could garden, neighbourhoods and businesses in support of Fresh for All. Share the Veggie Wealth: extra bounty from backyard gardens, balcony boxes, community gardens and farms is shared with those who could really use some home-grown food. Unite Existing Initiatives: creating awareness of what is already being done in the County to create food security and working in partnership to further the first two goals. Food Justice: through community support and awareness, balancing health, environmental and social concerns to promote access to enough safe and nutritious food for all.
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