Twice a month, Michele Alterman and a dedicated group of volunteers serve fresh produce at All Saints Lutheran Anglican Church in Guelph.
Recognizing that food security is a concern for many people, the church began Silvercreek Community Market, a free, choice based, fresh food market to help those experiencing food insecurity access healthy, nutritious fruits and vegetables year-round.
“Our market goal is to provide families with fresh fruits and vegetables, which is more nutritious than canned items,” says Alterman, administrative assistant at All Saints.
“The market is choice based. People walk around and choose what they need or want. Our focus is fresh produce with higher nutritional value.”
Alterman says what makes the market different from other emergency food providers in the city, is the focus is on providing healthier options with fresh produce.
“We also try to offer foods that appeal to the cooking styles that many of our newcomer families enjoy.
“We offer a different set of items from week to week.”
Nutritious fruits and vegetables are purchased though a partnership with The SEED, a program of the Guelph Community Health Centre, which buys and transports food each week, and sells it to the market at wholesale prices.
“We have been able to add frozen meat and eggs from The SEED for distribution and we also receive donations from COBS Bread twice each month," Alterman says.
Food insecurity continues to be a major concern for many Silvercreek Community Market guests, many of whom are newcomers or face financial or health challenges.
“At the end of the day, if there is any food left over, it goes to 238 Willow, which is a Guelph Community Assisted Living Building,” Alterman says. “It really is a community effort.”
But, Alterman says, the need continues to grow. Silvercreek Community Market serves between 65 to 70 families a week.
“All of last year, we served 4,878 people in 2022, and so far this year, we’ve already served over 6,483 individuals from 1,444 households,” Alterman says.
The inspiration, Alterman says, came from Barb McPhee who operates the North End Harvest Market (NEHM) which started in July 2014.
The goal for NEHM was to help address food security in the north end community of Guelph where many families struggled with access to nutritious food.
“As word got out, market attendance expanded and people from other neighbourhoods went to the NEHM as well. This includes people who live in the Onward Willow Neighbourhood Group (OWNG) area,” Alterman says.
“This led to some brainstorming about how wonderful it would be to have a market in the OWNG area, where All Saints is located, so that we could also reach more families in need. And so, our new outreach ministry was formed.”
In May 2017, All Saints Lutheran Anglican Church opened it's first market. And with grants received, it was able to expand.
“We started in May, and by August, we were up to doing two markets a month,” Alterman says.
“We serve the west end. We do not turn anyone away. We do direct people, and some know of the North End Harvest Market. But if they can’t make it because of the hours or transportation, our market helps that way too for those people. Out of an equity lens, we do try to ask everyone to pick one or the other.”
Julianna Stephens has been volunteering at Silvercreek Community Market since it first began.
“I do this because I want to give back,” she says.
"I have the time to do it. And now, it’s needed more than ever. The need just continues to grow. The cost of everything is atrocious. And it’s not changing in the near future."
Stephens says just like housing, food is a basic necessity of life.
"If you don’t have it, you can’t survive,” she says.
The market is grateful for the partnership it has with the St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church community which hold food drives for the market a couple times a year.
Silvercreek Community Market accepts donations of non-perishable foods including items such as breakfast cereals, peanut butter, pasta sauce, canned meat and fish, rice, whole red lentils and cooking oil.
The Silvercreek Community Market operates two Thursdays a month with registration beginning at 1:30 p.m.
Anyone wishing to volunteer or donate to the market can contact organizers through the Facebook page at Silvercreek Community Market/facebook or call (519) 821-7710 for further information.
“In a perfect world, we would love to be out of business. We would love to see the numbers go down. But this is part of the wider issue of the cost of living, a lack of accessible housing, and just the way that the economy is going,” Alterman says.
“We are thrilled that we can at least help a little bit. If it means not having to make the choice between rent and healthy food on your table, then it’s worth it.”
