Did you miss what we were up to in 2017?
Here are some highlights from 2017 (made possible by generous friends and donors)
*Growing Futures impacted 100’s of children, educators and businesses across the city by teaching food and financial literacy, entrepreneurship and community building.
www.growingfutures.ca
*We offered part-time steady employment to five neighbours and 3 youth.
*We provided supervised school placements to four post-secondary students interested in food justice.
*We introduced 24 low income youth to entrepreneurship through 13SocEnt.
www.13socent.ca
*We were honoured to be selected to receive both the United Way Community Builder of the Year “From Poverty to Possibility” Award, and the Canadian Volunteer Award for Social Innovation in Ontario.
*We hosted over 80 cooking workshops with a wide variety of Ottawa chefs, home cooks and neighbours leading them.
*We helped our neighbours find housing, dental care, furniture, clothing, veterinary care and so much more!
*Dozens of groups from government departments chose preparing food for their neighbours in PFC’s kitchen as a team-building exercise. We happily distributed the fresh food to those in need.
*We cooked two meals each week for the children in SWCHC’s after school program and one hearty snack for the “Place to Be” drop in.
*With the help of St. Lawrence Employment Centre we found a job for anyone who asked for help.
*To address concern that the Chinese Senior’s lunch might be cancelled we offered to provide the ingredients needed to ensure a healthy meal and social outing could be provided.
*PFC became a weekly stop for Market Mobile. Now everyone has regular access to fresh food at wholesale prices. Our staff and volunteers helped to make this possible.
*By offering our neighbours as many fruits and vegetables as they need we distributed over 250 boxes of bananas, 150 boxes of apples, about 1,500 bags
of potatoes, and 150 boxes of oranges.
…and there is so much more!
In 2018 we will be working with Youth Now Farm to offer more young adults, with barriers to employment, the opportunity to acquire the skills needed to find and retain a job. We are also excited to have been granted funds to hire an employee to help the organizations in the Community Food Network to better address issues around food justice.
Thank you for helping us create a warm, healthy community hub where everyone is welcomed and valued.
Come visit us in 2018. We’d love to show you around!
Happy New Year!