Community Vitality 2022

Glen Cairn Community Resource Centre

Food for All Project

Grant: $118,984 for 3 years

Stanislav Rajic and Jazz Walmsley with some local produce.

50% of Canadian-produced food is lost or wasted, and nearly a third of this is avoidable. Thankfully, food upcycling is a section of the food industry that is growing quickly. Using upcycled ingredients severely reduces edible food waste, and put food into the hands of the local community.

Glen Cairn Community Resource Centre (GCCRC) is a nonprofit, neighbourhood-based, organization that offers a wide range of programs and services in the Glen Cairn/PondMills community in southeast London. They work with people of all ages to strengthen the community by providing resources, family support, volunteer opportunities, and a range of programs for adults, children and young people.

Part of the London Good Food Project, Food for All will increase the GCCRC’s ability to sustainably provide healthy, nutritious and culturally appropriate food to communities in London. The project will also have an employability aspect to it, with community members being involved in transforming perishable food into meals for people experiencing food insecurity for little to no cost.

“It will provide project participants with necessary skills, training and connections needed to break the cycle of poverty, such as food preparation, packaging, marketing, and sales skills,” says Stanislav Rajic, Executive Director at the Resource Centre. “Through connections with some of our partners, project participants will also gain valuable employability skills through other food-related training and on-the-job experience.”

There are no local programs combining food rescue with food processing skills-building and food upcycling into prepared meals and food products for community members in need.

“There are services in London that utilize some components of the aim of Food For All (meal preparation and delivery). However, they do not utilize donated food or incorporate food employability skills into their program delivery framework,” says Stanislav.

The almost $120,000 funding from the Community Vitality Grant will be used to fund operational costs for the project including staff salaries and education and utility bills.