KENTVILLE – Fifty thousand dollars in provincial funding has been announced for a Kings County program to help grow its fight against food insecurity.
Sharing Our Unappreciated Produce is an initiative run through the Canadian Mental Health Association’s Kings County division and coordinated by Sarah MacDonald who, along with minister of communities, culture and heritage Leo Glavine and Kings South MLA Keith Irving, was on hand for the funding announcement May 1 at the Royal Canadian Legion in Kentville.
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The funding is part of $600,000 in total funding from the department through its “Building Vibrant Communities” grant program, which seeks to reduce food insecurity, aid with transportation and support youth in transition across Nova Scotia.
This is one of several initiatives the province identified as helping to do just that.
“I don’t think we do our best of anything if we are hungry, and if that’s part of our every day or weekly life,” said Leo Glavine, recalling when students would often approach him during his years as a teacher and ask for 25 cents for a canteen snack because they had no breakfast.
“So if we can start to address [this] and have the kind of ongoing programs that support people… I believe we can start to cut into that cycle of poverty.”
MacDonald and several SOUP volunteers helped prepare a lunch in the legion’s kitchen for those attending the event – an example of how the initiative works to salvage produce that would otherwise be wasted.
The SOUP initiative currently operates in kitchens in Kentville, New Minas, Berwick, Kingston and Middleton and will look to expand to more locations with their funding.
The funding will go towards stabilizing staff resources and “continuing to build kitchens, gardens, greenhouses” and establishing a restaurant employment people in transition, according to a release issued at the event.
“All of the people that helped out today – they are the heart of what goes on here. We’re very thankful… this gives us all a reason to feel really, really proud,” said MacDonald.
This grant program is part of the province's poverty reduction investment and will see $20 million over the next four years put towards a collaborative, multi-tiered effort to end poverty in Nova Scotia.
To learn more about the SOUP initiative, visit its Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SharingOurUnappreciatedProduce/.