Food box program seeking new votes

After submitting its idea of a “Community Food Box” program to the Aviva Community Fund and making it to the third round, the Clover Valley Farmers’ Market once again is looking for local residents to vote for their cause in order to earn some funding.
“We were told about it two or three weeks ago and we thought, ‘What have we got to lose?’” noted organizer Kim Cornell.

They entered the competition during round two and since the “Community Food Box” program wasn’t selected as semi-finalists this past weekend, it has moved on the compete in the third—and final—one.
“Now we’ve started again with a clean slate, so people who voted last week need to vote again,” Cornell stressed, noting people can vote every day.
Round three winds up Nov. 29, and the 20 “ideas” that receive the most votes will move on to the semi-finals with those already selected.
Those 60 initiatives in all then will be judged and have a chance at sharing $500,000 in funding.
“At the end of round two, we had about 130 votes and that was in just four days, so we’re really hoping people show their support,” Cornell said.
“As far as we know, we’re the only ones from Northwestern Ontario.
“It’s hard to compete against some of the larger centres, but we think we stand a chance if everyone spreads the word,” he stressed.
For more than a year now, food boxes containing an assortment of locally-grown fruits and vegetables have been distributed once a month to Emo, Rainy River, Atikokan, and Kenora to promote healthy lifestyles.
This project also supports positive economic development within the local farm community.
But as first reported in last
Friday’s Daily Bulletin, Cornell noted storage and transportation are their two big obstacles.
“We want to do some sort of appropriate vegetable storage at the [farmers’ market],” he explained. “We’ve got growers really keen to grow, and we’re developing a program where there’s an outlet for that product, but storage is an issue.
“All the small growers can’t afford to do storage,” Cornell stressed. “So if we could offer storage, we could support the smaller growers.”
After storage, Cornell said transportation is their next challenge.
“We need to do something about refrigerated transportation or, obviously in January, heated transportation,” he remarked, saying right now CVFM directors are running around Northwestern Ontario with their own vehicles providing the service.
Those interested in supporting the local idea—and giving it a push to the semi-finals—can vote at www.avivacommunityfund.org/ideas/acf3715
“We’ve also put out an e-mail circulation about this,” Cornell indicated. “And we’ve been getting lots of responses from people saying they are voting, so it seems people are excited about it and paying attention.”
As of press time today, the total number of votes for the “Community Food Box” program was 78—and several people had left supportive comments.
“This is a wonderful project,” one comment read. “I know people who utilize this food box, and being able to distribute both meats and yearly would be a wonderful addition to a great service to many.”
“This is an innovative and effective way to increase the capacity of farmers to provide local food without needing to become directly involved in marketing,” another wrote.
“It could serve as a model for other isolated areas across Canada.”
Cornell feels even if their project doesn’t make it to the semi-finals and earn some funding, the effort has been worth it.
“I hope we’ve captured people’s imaginations about local food and how even in the Rainy River District, we can learn to feed ourselves,” he remarked.
Meanwhile, those wanting to purchase a Clover Valley Farmers’ Market food box can do so by signing up there before the first Thursday of the month.
Pick-up in each of the communities takes place on the third Wednesday of the month.
The cost for the food box is $25.