Planting at the new Bay D’Espoir Community Youth Network Community Garden in St. Alban’s.
Food First NL is thrilled to announce the recipients of the first round of the Community Food Security Fund!
In the Spring, we put out a call for applications to three regions of the province: The Coast of Bays, South Coast of Labrador, and Northern Peninsula. Groups were encouraged to think creatively about how they could advance food security locally using either a Seed Grant of up to $250 or a Root Grant of up to $2,000. Congratulations to the successful recipients of the 2019 Community Food Security Fund- we hope your projects thrive!
In the winter, Food First NL will be evaluating its new Community Food Security Fund to see how well it has met the needs of recipient community groups and we’ll be exploring ways to offer future rounds of funding, so stay tuned!
2019 Recipients
Bay d’Espoir Community Youth Network in St. Alban’s has received $2,000 towards their Growing Health community program which will establish a new community garden, host a nature hike and boil-up, and bring local organizations together to support healthy living in St. Alban’s.
Connaigre Peninsula Health Centre in Harbour Breton has received $1,265 towards their Long-term Care Garden. The garden has been active for 5 years and is now expanding because of the dedication of passionate staff, residents and volunteers. This funding will be used in part to make the garden easier to access for resident using wheelchairs and walkers.
Conrad Fitzgerald Academy in English Harbour West has received $2,000 to construct a new school and community greenhouse. Local residents will be able to use the greenhouse to cultivate crops they don’t normally grow in their home gardens, and the school will use the greenhouse for hands-on science lessons with K-9 students and to serve healthier options at lunch time.
Harbour Breton Community Youth Network has received $2,000 towards bottling and canning supplies to establish an equipment lending library and to connect youth and seniors to learn about safe food preservation. This project will complement their already successful community garden, and utilize some of its harvest. They plan to host food skills workshops in collaboration with Central Health.
Hermitage Lions Community Centre has received $250 to bring together students and seniors for a fun, hands-on session to make jam with local berries. They want to connect young people with traditional food skills, and help seniors to access the local foods they grew up with.
Southern Labrador/Straight of Belle Isle Community Youth Network received $2,000 to start a new intergenerational community garden in Forteau in partnership with Labrador Straits Seniors Housing Inc. Youth and seniors will work together to grow vegetables for the seniors, to share a harvest meal, and to pass on gardening skills to youth.
St. Mary’s All Grade School in Mary’s Harbour received $1,150 to support expansion of their successful SucSeed hydroponic growing program and to provide additional food skills education in the school.
Town of Milltown-Head of Bay d’Espoir has received $250 towards start-up of a new community garden. They are hoping local seniors will get involved and can exchange vegetables between themselves and that the garden will be a friendly gathering place for community members of all ages.
Town of St. Anthony has received $250 towards food and gardening activities as part of their summer recreation program that reaches up to 100 children aged 6-13 each summer. The program provides healthy snacks and opportunities for kids to plant, tend, harvest and eat local vegetables.
The 2019 Community Food Security Fund was made possible with support from the Public Health Agency of Canada’s Innovation Strategy, and the International Grenfell Association.
