Thursday, March 28, 2024

Vancouver Island grocery stores launch campaign to improve food security in the region

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Five grocery stores on Vancouver Island have come together to participate in a food security campaign.

Country Grocer, Fairway Market, Red Barn Market, The Root Cellar and Thrifty Foods have partnered with the Victoria Foundation to raise awareness and funds for the Food Rescue Project, an initiative of The Food Share Network.

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The Food Rescue Project is a collaboration of donors, grocery retailers, and community organizations, that work to recover and redistribute healthy, fresh food to food insecure communities in the region.

While some of these grocery stores participating in the initiative already donate food to the project, they require funding for other aspects of the program.

Our stores, along with our partners, currently recover 2,000 kilograms of fruits, vegetables, and dairy products per day, six days a week,” stated Thrifty Foods Vice-President of Operations Ralf Mundel.

“But we know that a program like this requires a lot more than just food to make it work. It takes equipment, transportation, staffing and more, and that’s what the funds raised through this campaign will go towards.”

How to participate

From June 1st – 23rd, all branches of the aforementioned five grocery stores will be accepting donations for the Island Food Caring campaign.

Customers can either donate at the till or via the program’s website at www.islandfoodcaring.ca.

“Food insecurity is not just isolated among a small group of people,” noted Matthew Kemshaw, Executive Director of LifeCycles Project Society and Chair of the Food Share Network.

“This issue touches children, youth, seniors, single parents… everyone. More than 50 agencies are distributing this food throughout the region, so the people that you are helping are your neighbours.”

All funds raised by these grocers will go to the Victoria Foundation to be distributed to Food Share Network partner organizations participating in the Food Rescue Project.

The Victoria Foundation will be matching the amount raised up to $25,000.

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Brishti Basu
Former Senior Staff Writer and Content Manager at Victoria Buzz.

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