A future with fresher foodbanks

By Lauren O’Brien

Farmers in Windsor and Essex County say food banks need to promote healthier eating.

Lesley Labbe is the primary farmer at Our Farm Organics, located just outside of Cottam, Ont. As one of Windsor and Essex County’s first certified organic market farms, OFC has donated to multiple food banks in Windsor and Essex County.

Labbe said people are less likely to take fresh produce from the foodbank.

“A lot of people don’t know how to cook fresh food anymore. They won’t take our lettuce or anything like that. They’ll only take non-perishables like potatoes and sweet potatoes, things that can sit on a shelf for a week without going bad,” Labbe said. “Do they need it? Yes. But (the banks) are telling us people don’t always generally take it. They’ll take the canned things before a butternut squash.”

The Downtown Mission’s food bank is working on changing this, according to its director of food services, Laurie Musson. Since Musson began working at the food bank six years ago, she has worked on developing a fresh program and educating people about fresh food.

“We get a lot of fresh produce, but people tend to want the cans because it’s what they’re used to,” said Musson. “So we’ve been trying to have little cooking classes to show them how to cook. We had many people who didn’t know what a spaghetti squash is, let alone how to cook it.”

Last September, the food bank took over the Fireman’s Bar & Grill on Dufferin Place and turned it into a storage warehouse. This building has given them access to a large cooler and two walk-in freezers.

In attempt to be more conscious about how to not lose food, Musson said they are hoping to add a kitchen into the space.

“If we get so many tomatoes and we can’t possibly give them away, we’re going to start making sauce out of them,” said Musson. “Tomato sauce is something we give out a lot of and we run out of often. We can make it, bag it and freeze it. We’ll keep supplying ourselves.”

Katrina Wagner is a manager at Wagner Orchards & Estate Winery. Since opening in the 1980s, the owners have donated to food banks on several occasions. Most recently, they took some of their fresh meat to the Downtown Mission.  

“When you’re in elementary school and think about donating to a food bank, it’s always a can drive. It’s never a fundraiser where you go out and buy meat. So I don’t think it’s something people think of,” Wagner said. “When you think of what you eat, people need protein.”

The Windsor Essex Food Bank Association consists of 15 local food banks. According to the WEFBA website, area food banks are currently in need of peanut butter, cereal, beans with pork, childrens snacks, dried foods, baking products and more.

In the future, Wagner said she thinks it would be interesting to see some educational statistics about what is donated.

“I know there’s always food calls around the holidays, like Christmas, saying they need to feed people. But it would be cool to see, out of all the stuff they get, this is the percentage of fresh meat and vegetables,” said Wagner.

Anyone who is interested in donating can drop off donations at the Unemployed Help Centre of Windsor Inc. They also accept cheques and cash to purchase food in need. For additional information and assistance call 211.