Gleaning programs help collect unwanted, unused and leftover fruit.
(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)
July 28, 2015 - 6:30 PM
VERNON - Local food security programs are being supported by provincial funding that will allow them to grow jobs and fresh produce.
Kindale Development Association is receiving more than $40,000 to support Patchwork Farms at Okanagan College-Vernon develop a farm-gate market, coordinate a gleaning program and take the beginning steps for creating community kitchens and a Good Food Box program.
"Food security is extremely important to the individuals and families we serve, to our employees, and to the wider community,” association executive director Benita Elliot says in a release. “This is why Kindale is assisting the Food Action Society of the North Okanagan to sustain the operations of community gardens, gleaning, community kitchens, and the Good Food Box.”
The Downtown Vernon Association is also receiving more than $10,000 to allow an operations manual for Avenue Market to be developed. An asset inventory of downtown will be conducted as the association tries to identify ways to improve the market and encourage downtown shopping.
"Over the past 10 or so years there has been a growing trend toward supporting local, organic harvests as well as promoting food security.In essence, the local food movement has gone from fad to force,” Downtown Vernon Association executive director Lara Konkin says in the release.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Jennifer Stahn at jstahn@infonews.ca or call 250-819-3723. To contact an editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2015