Four organizations in Guelph will be receiving a total of $60,334 federal funding to help address food insecurity.
The four organizations, 10C, Guelph Food Bank, the Children’s Foundation of Guelph Wellington and Chalmers Community Group will receive the funding under The Local Food Infrastructure Fund, a five-year, $50-million program under the Food Policy for Canada aimed at community-based, not-for-profit organizations.
Guelph MP Lloyd Longfield made the local announcement Thursday.
The mission of the program is to reduce food insecurity by establishing and strengthening local food systems.
“Of course in this time of COVID-19, everybody now is very aware of food security,” said Longfield in the virtual announcement held during a zoom conference on Thursday morning.
“Food supply has been something critical as we have gone through COVID-19. One of the things that we’re learning from this is the great work that people in our food supply chain have done.”
The funding will be distributed as follows:
- 10 C Shared Spaces will receive $24,136 to purchase equipment for food production in their community kitchen.
- The Guelph Food Bank will receive $25,000
- The Children’s Foundation of Guelph and Wellington will receive $6,000.
- Chalmers Community Services Centre will receive $5,198 which will be used to purchase equipment for preparation, refrigeration and storage of food.
“It is great to see multiple organizations receiving support to build capacity to provide food for vulnerable people in Guelph,” said Longfield.
“Food is a shared partnership in our community, and these projects will support the collaborative work of unsung heroes working in these amazing organizations supporting our community.”
The first phase of the program was launched mid-summer of 2019 and closed in Nov. 2019, with 362 projects receiving funding valued at up to $25,000 per project, for a total of $6.6 million.
In April, the federal government also launched a separate, $100 million emergency fund under the Local Food Infrastructure Fund to support national, regional, and local organizations across Canada that are able to reach people and communities experiencing food insecurity and who have been impacted by COVID-19.
This fund supports the purchase and distribution of food on an emergency basis across the country.
