The Local Food for Local Good partnership has been helping to deliver food supplies to students in need, even during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A group of businesses and volunteers are being celebrated for delivering the goods to ensure students who need food to succeed in school could still get it.
Last spring, Northumberland Food For Thought (NFFT) forged a partnership with Northumberland-based charity, Local Food for Local Good (www.localfoodforlocalgood.ca).
With COVID-19 emergency funding from the Breakfast Club of Canada, the local partnership was able to mobilize businesses and volunteers to supply and deliver food to the homes of 320 students in Northumberland County who could no longer access Student Nutrition Programs at school due to the COVID-19 shutdown.
Beth Kolisnyk, the community development co-ordinator with NFFT (www.northumberlandfoodforthought.ca) says that this shows the power of passionate people and partners that overcome adversity and obstacles, even in the midst of a pandemic.
Working with local principals, NFFT was able to identify students at 25 local schools who stood to benefit from the food-distribution plan.
With direction from NFFT, Local Food for Local Good was then able to move ahead with the initiative.
Normally, children and youth can access food through the Student Nutrition Programs at their schools, so they are not distracted by empty stomachs from learning in the classroom.
Local Food for Local Good received help from Cobourg grocer, The Market and Smor, to supply more than 430 fresh food boxes for students, while also enlisting Port Hope teaching kitchen/restaurant, Food Inspired, and Campbellford based eatery, Dockside Bistro, to prepare nearly 1,500 meals for students and their families.
Eleven volunteer drivers then delivered the food, as well as learning/arts kits and activity backpacks, to the homes of these students across Northumberland County.
Nicole Beatty, the Board Chair of Local Food for Local Good, says the first wave of COVID-19 provided them with an opportunity to mobilize community members to ensure that school aged children and youth did not go without access to fresh, healthy food while schools were closed.
