Tag Archives: food insecurity

CKMS Community News, Newsroom

Local organization connects people to land so they can grow food and increase their food security

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Host: Leah Gerber

Food prices are top of mind for many people at the moment. Public Health Ontario describes food insecurity as not having enough income to afford healthy and adequate food. The Waterloo Region Community Garden Network is an organization that connects people with land so they can grow their own food and help stretch their dollars at the store. 

Radio Waterloo spoke with Doug Jones, the chair of the Network to talk about how people can increase their own food security, as well as how food security can be increased at a community level. Radio Waterloo also spoke with Gladys Rosana who gardens a quarter-acre plot at the Petersburg Community Garden with her husband about the reality of what it takes to grow much of the food they eat for the year themselves, and how this has impacted their food security. 

CKMS Community News, Newsroom

Local student meal program and school sound alarm on inadequate budget for feeding hungry kids

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Host: Leah Gerber

Nutrition for Learning has been serving food to kids in Waterloo Region for about 30 years. This school year was the first they were unable to fill all the food needs of their schools. CEO Erin Moraghan says they need about twice the budget they have to meet the demand. 

Vanessa Haffner, an educational assistant and the volunteer coordinator for the program at Centennial Public School in Waterloo, speaks about her first-hand experience trying to stretch the budget to meet the need. She and principal Stephen Sherlock speak about the difference the food makes for the students and the program’s importance. 

Haffner says food insecurity in schools is a real issue that can go unseen by the larger community. “If you’re not within the school walls and seeing every day what our students are coming with for lunch, it’s easy to miss. And I think sometimes our community doesn’t realise how many students are coming to school feeling hungry.”

CKMS Community News, Newsroom, Shows

CKMS News -2024-06-20- Pay-what-you-can food market working with community gardens for fresh produce

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CKMS News -2024-06-20- Pay-what-you-can community food market working with community gardens for fresh produce.

dan kellar

Kitchener, ON – An initiative from Community Healthcaring Kitchener Waterloo has resulted in the region’s first consistent pay-what-you-can food market. Stemming from the organization’s integrated strategy around supportive health care, the market is a part of the Community Health and Wellness program, which also includes a weekly breakfast club, cooking skill-shares, and other capacity and community building activities.

While the market has been stocking its shelves since January through donations and the Second Harvest food rescue app, as the growing season blooms, the project is teaming up with community gardens to bring in more fresh produce.  

Located in the organization’s office at 44 Frances St. in Kitchener, the market is open to everyone from 9-5 Monday through Thursday, and Friday 8-4.

This show features an interview with Megan Vander Hoek, a food program worker at Community Healthcaring Kitchener-Waterloo, discussing the pay-what-you-can food market and the organization’s efforts to support healthier communities through food.  

CKMS Community News, Newsroom, Shows

Stories of Hope: Community-Led Food Assistance Programs in Waterloo Region

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MP Holmes
Kitchener, ON

In the last three months of 2023, food assistance programs in the region marked almost a 50 percent increase in usage compared to the same period in 2022. In those last three months of 2023 alone, almost 15, 000 unique households accessed a food assistance program, a 43 percent increase over that period in 2022.

These numbers are from the Food Bank of Waterloo Region  and they highlight the surge in demand for food and the growing issue of food insecurity within our community.

However, amidst these challenges, there are stories of hope and compassion emerging through community-led initiatives that are making a difference in the lives of those in need.

These initiatives include the Tiny Home Takeout and Food Not Bombs, which are both operating on shoestring budgets with a crew of volunteers and demonstrate the power of grassroots movements in addressing basic human needs.

CKMS has more on this story

CKMS Community News, Newsroom

CKMS News -2024-03-31- The Free Weekly Distro fills a need and “shares the bounty”

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CKMS News -2024-03-31- The Free Weekly Distro fills a need and “shares the bounty”

by: dan kellar

Waterloo – As the cost of living crisis continues and the effects of high housing costs remain at the forefront of many discussions, record high food prices remain an important issue.

Since the fall of 2020, LSPIRG and Martin Luther University College have run a project out of the college, called “The Free Weekly Distro“, offering free food and basic home items to anyone who needs them. While the project’s webpage states The Distro started in response to “the serious level of food insecurity that was compounded due to COVID-19 unemployment and existing services being closed”, the mutual aid effort continues weekly as food costs have continued to rise.

This show features an Interview with Tavia Weber, the Distro Program Development and Partnerships Coordinator at Luther. Weber talks about the program’s origin, the effects of the high cost of living on students, and the massive growth in the program’s use.