The Hillhurst Sunnyside Community Association Fresh Food Basket Program provides an anonymous, dignified and sustainable strategy to improving access to good, healthy food. We see an average of 60 families weekly, distributing over 350 portions of fresh food each week. Our donations come from a variety of sources including local food organizations and businesses, local Farmers and community gardeners, and individuals. Though we hope to source all the required food from these channels, often we need to supplement our portions by shopping at our local grocery stores. Although it is not ideal, we recognize the importance of having a reliable program, and seek to provide the same level of support week after week.
This program does not seek to solve food insecurity. Poverty and the inaccessibility of our food systems are complex issues, and cannot be solved with basic needs programming. However, we hope that this program allows the families that access it to feel more at ease about where their groceries will be coming from, and allows us to make connections with participants and offer support in other areas. The Fresh Food Basket is a first step in community engagement. When basic needs are met, vulnerability decreases, and we see an increase in the ability to create connection and participate in community.
Moving forward, we hope to depend less and less on donations, and hope to see an uptake of this style of program across other communities in Calgary. This program is one that requires little infrastructure to start-up, but provides a highly valuable service to our community.
This summer we have seen an increase in food donations from our Farmers' Market vendors, and have received many donations from community members!
Here are some updates from the current Summer Fundraiser:
$250 from the Sun Fun Summer Program Bake Sales
$530 from Community Members like YOU
Weekly donations of lettuce, spinach, chard, rhubarb and herbs from St. Barnabus Community Garden
One-time donation of greens from the Hillhurst Sunnyside Community Garden
Frequent donations of greens, peas and zucchinis from Kensington First Community Garden
Frequent donations of chard, kale, beans, peas and beets from the Sunnyside Shared Garden
We are currently accepting monetary donations for our Summer Fundraising Campaign. The Sun Fun Summer Program baking club will also be at market throughout August selling their baked goods to raise funds- add an extra buck or two to your purchase to receive a ballot for the 'World Tour' Gift Basket.
If you donate AT MARKET, you will be entered to win our Farmers' Market 'World Tour' Gift Basket. This basket with donations from each of our vendors, is worth almost $500! Donate multiple weeks to get more entries. The basket winner will be chose at the END OF AUGUST, so you only have 3 more weeks to donate for your chance to win.
If you require more information about this program, please contact Heather at heather.r@hsca.ca.
