Nanaimo Foodshare saw a four-fold increase in demand for its Good Food Box, providing fresh locally-grown produce in a subscription-style service. (submitted photo/Nanaimo Foodshare)

By Alex Rawnsley

RAPID GROWTH

Increased demand for locally-grown produce leads to huge year for Nanaimo Foodshare

Oct 7, 2021 | 5:25 AM

NANAIMO — It’s been a year of unprecedented growth for a local non-profit.

Nanaimo Foodshare saw an explosion in demand for their services and programming throughout the early days of the pandemic as more people turned to gardening and producing food at home as a way to beat out rising costs and shaky supply chains.

Chrys LoScerbo, director of food skills, told NanaimoNewsNOW their popular Good Food Box which contains a wide selection of locally grown fresh fruit and vegetables, saw a massive spike in popularity.

“We have seen so many individuals wanting to increase their food skills, whether that’s growing or cooking and access to whole foods like the Good Food Box which has grown by four times over this last year.”

Between July 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021, Nanaimo Foodshare packed over 500,000 pounds of fresh food into more than 27,000 boxes.

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The successes from the last 12 months were presented at Nanaimo Foodshare’s annual general meeting recently.

Sharp jumps in demand for their services were matched by increased funding from various government sources and private donations.

LoScerbo said they saw a 70 per cent boost in funding including over $76,000 in donations from around 500 different individuals or groups.

It helped them create a more robust staff, increase farm capacity and provide supports for an extensive network of volunteers and other contributors.

“So many people recognize the need and importance of insuring that those whole foods are not only acquired but also accessible and a lot of our volunteers are recipients of the boxes as well,” they said.

Cooking classes were a huge part of a busy year for Nanaimo Foodshare, providing kids and families the skills to cook and eat healthy at home. (submitted photo/Nanaimo Foodshare)

While the pandemic brought growth for Foodshare, it also caused a re-think on several of their key programs including School Meals.

LoScerbo said they weren’t able to get back into schools until early in 2021 but used the time to reach many of the same kids through partner organizations.

“Because we couldn’t provide ready to eat food provisions to kids at school, we were able to provide…Good Food Boxes to those school families,” they said. “We also offered cooking classes for families that wanted support to provide ready made meals with those ingredients.”

Despite the challenges, Foodshare said it provided over 14,500 nutritious meals to kids in 12 months.

A big part of the transition in service delivery for Nanaimo Foodshare was a focus on education. In-person and Zoom cooking classes helped bridge the gap to healthy eating for many.

LoScerbo said they reached over 130 more youth and families than they did in 2019.

“The more opportunities that we have to not only model but also participate in that connection with food on a daily basis is literally something that influences the rest of our lives.”

They added convenience of food often comes at the expense of health and nutrition.

“It is hard today in our society and culture of convenience for us to establish those healthy routines, to remember the importance of them,” LoScerbo said. “Something as fundamental as eating is something that it’s very easy for us to just go to convenience and fast food for example.”

Nanaimo Foodshare also sent out over 2,100 meals to seniors in the community through their Senior Meals program, run in partnership with the Nanaimo Family Life Association.

Join the conversation. Submit your letter to NanaimoNewsNOW and be included on The Water Cooler, our letters to the editor feature.

alex.rawnsley@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @alexrawnsley