Submitted by Beige McIntosh,
Food Security Coordinator, The Meeting Place Tobermory
Since 2021, The Meeting Place has been designated a Good Food Organization (GFO) by Community Food Centres Canada (CFCC). As a GFO, we are committed to developing programs that support dignity and health for people needing help accessing nutritious food.
As a GFO we are guided by CFCC’s 5 Good Food Principles:
-Take action from the individual to the systemic level
-Invest in the power of good food
-Create an environment of respect and community leadership
-Meet people where they’re at
-Aim high for our organization and our community
So, what does that actually look like? We offer a mix of food programs to meet people’s immediate need for nutritious food and ones that build skills around cooking and growing food. Our Good to Go program creates a different meal kit each week to encourage participants to try new foods. The program operates on a pay-what-you-can basis and the cost is subsidized by The Meeting Place. The Community Learning Garden program provides garden space, seeds, started plants and instructions to get novice gardeners started with growing their own food!
We invest in as much local and ecologically produced food as possible (purchasing produce from a local farmer and Eat Local Grey Bruce) for our programs. We’re also increasing the ways we can bring fresh produce to the people who need it, by bringing Good Food Boxes to Tobermory (and delivering along the highway north of Lion’s Head).
We build programs that everyone can participate in, regardless of financial situation, while offering an array of ways to contribute.
We create avenues within the organization where participants can be involved/give back to our programs. This builds community, relationships and breaks down the binary between the ‘givers’ and ‘receivers’ of charity.
If you would like to learn more or get involved with our food programs, head to Tobermorymeetingplace.com and open the Food and Nutrition tab. Or reach out at food@tobermorymeetingplace.com/ 519-596-2313.
