Fresh faces helped pack fresh produce into Good Food Boxes at the United Covenant Church Thursday morning.

New and experienced volunteers are helping pack boxes, big and small, with fresh food for the Good Food Box Program, a part of Anti-Hunger Coalition Timmins. The program makes fresh food more accessible and affordable to residents in Timmins who might not live near an affordable grocery store, or have other issues accessing fresh, healthy food.

Boxes are packed by volunteers with a variety of fresh foods, purchased at wholesale prices from local farmers and grocers.

“We pass those savings from the whole sale prices on to the customer,” Jennifer Vachon, Executive Director of ACT said, “so it’s about 25-30 percent savings every month.”

Those savings get passed to participants of the program, who pick up their boxes every month at a host pick-up site in the city. A large food box is $20 and a small box is $12.

ACT works with emergency food and shelter organizations as well. Vachon says there are always people who access those services and receive healthy food through the Good Food Box program.

“For example,” she said, “South Porcupine Food Bank, for many many years, has been buying ten boxes a month from us to ensure that people accessing the food bank get that fresh food as well.”

Vachon says lots of organizations take advantage of the Good Food Box program, including a local women’s shelter that has been buying five boxes a month for years.

The boxes all come with a newsletter (in French and English), put together by one of ACT’s partners, the Porcupine Health Unit. The newsletter features upcoming events, food facts and recipes.

The Good Food Box program has existed for ten years in Timmins, and the ACT is making their services more accessible for residents. With the help of partners like the Porcupine Health Unit, the Good Food Box program has been able to increase their host sites (pick-up locations), and add a small box as an option to purchase.

It’s essential that people, especially children and youths, are getting enough fruit and vegetables in their diet. Victoria Hall, a Public Dietitian with the Porcupine Health Unit, says only 18% of students are consuming the recommended number of vegetable and fruit servings, as suggested from Canada’s Food Guide.

The Good Food Box helps eliminate some of the barriers people face when trying to access fresh food. Having pick-up sites in locations that don’t have grocery stores or limited transportation options are some of the ways the Good Food Box is becoming more available. And ACT has recently added another way people can get their fruits and veggies.

“Now, we actually have home delivery available,” said Victoria Hall, “to some clients that have further mobility or transportation issues to picking up the box and carrying it home. So that’s something that we’ve partnered with Good Food Box to make happen.”

Home Delivery is a new addition to the services ACT provides when it comes to the Good Food Box. People have primarily relied on the host site system to get their boxes for the past ten years the program has been running.

“But we recognize that there are a lot of places, such as Schumacher,” said Vachon, “where it’s been really difficult to get a host site in, and where there are a lot of people who don’t have means of transportation, who can’t access that good food.”

More improvements are on the way for the Good Food Box program. Jennifer Gorman, Manager of Cochrane and Timiskaming Districts of United Way North East, announced that the United Way will be donating $30,000 towards the program.

“It’s exciting for me,” said Gorman, “because, being with United Way […] for ten years now, it’s almost the same length as the agency. […] We really appreciate that partnership. So we’re pleased to be able to fund for the $30,000 for the program.”

 

 

 

 

 

“With this funding, we’re able to have the people and hours in place to dedicate to figuring out the best approach to home delivery,” added Vachon.

The Timmins Good Food Box program is only the second in Canada to offer home delivery service. And today, the Good Fox Box program will pack its 200th home-delivered Good Food Box. The home delivery service will soon be open to the public for an additional $3. Currently,the program delivers 30 boxes a month through the home delivery service. They hope to increase that number in the new year, and the funding from United Way will go towards that.

“We do want to make it open to the public in the future,” Vachon said, “we just need to increase our volunteer base so that we’re able to have the capacity to do that.”

Anyone who wants to use the home delivery service can do so by getting in touch with Anti-Hunger Coalition Timmins.

The funding from United Way will be going a long way with the Good Food Box program.

“It’s pretty incredible,” Vachon said, “The people receiving the boxes are very much appreciative of the service that we deliver. And we’re just hoping to be able to expand that home delivery service in the future.”

For more on the Good Food Boxes program, and the cooking programs that are a part of the partnership between ACT and the Cochrane District Social Services Administration Board, go to the Anti-Hunger Coalition Timmins website. 

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