Healthy Food for the Homeless

Offering Local and Organic Produce in Food Banks

Oct 22, 2009 Lauren Znachko

People are finding ways to provide healthy, nutritious food to the homeless. Local, organic produce takes over lower quality goods in food banks.

The Stop is a community center on Toronto’s west side. With the help of volunteers and staff they provide a food bank that consist of local, fresh produce to homeless and low-income people.

At The Stop there are bins full of heirloom carrots, leeks, heads of cabbage and oyster mushrooms. There are bundles of fresh herbs, cold-pressed Ontario canola oil and whole grain loaves of bread.

Scott McNeil is one of the head chefs at The Stop. He used to work in a housing advocacy program. “I would see what these people ate for lunch, day old pastries, white bread, processed food and coffee. I could not imagine going out in the cold to find a house on that kind of diet.” This is why McNeil is now a leading advocate for bringing as much local, organic produce as possible into The Stop’s kitchen.

Feeding the Homeless Supplied by Local Farms

A local Ontario farm recently donated $5,000 worth of produce to The Stop. They also have community farms in the surrounding areas where they harvest year round. A local greenhouse is used to supplement their supply of food and herbs. Programs like the one at The Stop are finding force as people look beyond the immediate problems of hunger and find the deeper issues of sustainability.

As individuals become more aware of the food they consume—where it comes from, its environmental repercussions, and its nutritional value—methods for improving the way society deals with hunger and homelessness are expanding.

Healthy Food as a Human Right

Restaurants and bakeries are finding more liberty to donate leftovers to food banks, but this does not eliminate the discretion necessary to ensure nutritious, high quality meals for homeless people. Which is why activists like Christy Porter of Hidden Harvest are launching initiatives to include farms as sources for food banks and school programs. Hidden Harvest salvages excess crops from farms before they are turned back into the ground at the end of the growing season. They believe that healthy eating is a fundamental right to every person and they work to make quality food accessible to everyone.

Healthy Meals Create Healthy Communities

Healthy eating may no longer only be an option for those who can afford it at the grocery store. World leaders such as Michelle Obama have created national platforms of healthy eating initiatives in school programs and other institutional facilities. This action fosters the recognition that the food individuals consume fuels their lifestyle. The more quality the food, the more quality the lifestyle.

The copyright of the article Healthy Food for the Homeless in Poverty/World Development is owned by Lauren Znachko. Permission to republish Healthy Food for the Homeless in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

organic food

community healthy food

What do you think about this article?

---

NOTE: Because you are not a Suite101 member, your comment will be moderated before it is viewable.

post your comment

What is 4+10?