It seems like just yesterday when we had our Annual General Meeting and we were celebrating the many accomplishments of the previous year, especially those of the youth in our community.  You may recall that when I spoke as the new Chair of the Board of Directors, I mentioned that PFC would be embarking on strategic planning to provide us with a vision to take us to the years 2021/22.  After a busy summer, I wanted to take this opportunity to provide you with an update on the progress. 

We have hired a consultant to help us with this project – Urooj Qureshi.  Urooj is the Founder of Designed Centred Company and came to us recommended by CSED (Centre for Social Enterprise Development).  Some of you may have met him either at PFC or at our annual Bar-B-Que. He is working with our Strategic Planning Committee, which is comprised of Christine Earnshaw and myself from our Board of Directors, and Karen Secord, Alissa Campbell and Meagan McVeigh from the PFC staff.  

We started out in early June with a combined Board and Staff Retreat to talk about our goals and objectives and to put on paper all our ideas of where we see ourselves in three years from now. It was a busy day and we all came away filled with excitement around how we see PFC transforming and growing to meet the needs of our neighbours and growing community.  

More recently Urooj has held Focus Groups with our neighbours and volunteers, and is now interviewing many of our community partners to capture their input and to ensure that we have a broad set of opinions to consider as we develop  our Strategic Plan and Vision. After these sessions are complete we will regroup as a Committee to begin to put pen to paper.  

Strategic Planning is more than “wish lists”, it means that we (the PFC Board and Staff) will need to make choices and establish priorities.  We need to be open to new ideas and concepts, and be inclusive to our partners, community, city, volunteers and most importantly our neighbours.  Our new Strategic Plan will give us the opportunity to create a shared vision for the future of Parkdale Food Centre.  

We anticipate finishing the Strategic Plan and an Implementation Plan by the late fall.  This is an ambitious schedule but we are all committed to moving forward quickly so that all of you in the PFC Community can see our Vision and be part of our Strategic Plan and transformation.  

Should any of you have any questions or comments please don’t hesitate to contact me directly at deb@parkdalefoodcentre.org

Kind regards, 

Deb 

Chair Parkdale Food Centre,

   Board of Directors

We’re planning the next three years!

Strategic planning for the next three years at Parkdale Food Centre is underway! We are excited to be working with Design Centred Co. to create a vision and strategic direction that align with our values and our community needs. We are asking big questions about our role in the community and what the future holds. How we can be our best possible self? How can we contribute to our community in a way that honours our values of inclusiveness, participation, leadership, health and innovation? An important step in this process of strategic reflection is engaging our community and listening. Your thoughts are needed, valuable and welcome.

We will be engaging our stakeholders in numerous ways, one of which is the survey below. If you are connected to us in any way at all, please share your thoughts with us by answering the questions below. This survey should take 20-25 minutes, and your responses are completely anonymous.

Introducing…..our newest team members!

Tamara’s passion for food was ignited when she was given her first cookbook on her 10th birthday. She has been making people smile with her food ever since. She loves baking with sourdough, growing vegetables and creating vegan versions of her family’s favourite dishes. She comes to Parkdale Food Centre after years of cooking in restaurants and cafes around Ottawa. She is working as Coordinator for Thirteen: A Social Enterprise and is excited to be working towards community empowerment through food.

 

 

 

Karin Freeman is a new resident of Ottawa who came to the Parkdale Food Centre looking to build new community in a meaningful way. She is very excited to be filling in for Elle this summer as the Growing Futures Coordinator! She will help lead Solutionary Workshops in schools to engage students in solving big community problems around Food Justice. As a new, small-scale, organic farmer she believes in the positive impact of exposing people to good food and the value of sharing meals and conversations with others. Don’t be surprised if she has a little dirt under her fingernails from time-to-time!

We’re Hiring! DEADLINE EXTENDED: Sunday May 12th

We are recruiting a social justice-oriented candidate to play a lead role in a 14 month project to support transformative changes and build capacity of members of the Ottawa Community Food Partnership. The ideal candidate will be well-versed in food security issues and is at ease developing and supporting relationships across a number of stakeholder groups. The Coordinator will work both independently and in collaboration with our team, helping to drive multi-faceted projects forward. The position will be based out of the Parkdale Food Centre location with frequent travel and work at other sites throughout the network.

Responsibilities include

    • Coordinating internal communications within the partnership to ensure members are informed of member news, programming, challenges, and desired training/support.
    • Ensuring grant management and reporting occurs in a timely fashion
    • Reviewing and directing communications activities relating to the partnership
    • Ensure the deliverables of active grants are met; including:
      • Coordinating collaborative training opportunities;
      • Creating tools for collective advocacy work;
      • Identifying tools and facilitating partnerships for donations of fresh food;
      • Increasing fundraising capacity and donor communication tools; 
      • Developing partnerships to support gleaning
    • Supporting members in:
      • Developing Good Food Policies
      • Procuring infrastructure for perishable foods and processing
      • Integrating more demos/workshops/gardens

Qualifications

  • Experience in community-based/non-profit organizations with direct experience planning or coordinating program operations.
  • Demonstrated capacity to develop a network with multiple partners;
  • Demonstrated knowledge of online tools to support learning, community-building, and mobilization.
  • Keen attention to detail and strong organizational abilities.
  • Leadership and initiative, tact, diplomacy, and creativity.
  • Strong interest in community food security
  • Strong coalition-building and facilitation skills
  • A flexible and collaborative spirit
  • Excellent oral and written communication
  • G Class Drivers License and use of personal vehicle

This position is part-time (21 hours per week) compensated at an annual salary range of $40,000 – $44,000 pro-rated.

To apply please send your CV and Cover Letter to Alissa Campbell at alissa@parkdalefoodcentre.org. In your cover letter, be sure to tell us your professional goals and share with us your approach to facilitating organizational change.  The deadline to apply in Sunday May 12th

We’re hiring! Food Rescue Coordinator

Do you believe that healthy food is a human right, and that food can be a powerful tool for creating resilient, connected people and neighbourhoods? Parkdale Food Centre is looking for a dynamic team member to lead the onboarding of food donors and social service agencies to expand Foodrescue.ca throughout Ottawa, in partnership with Second Harvest.

The Food Rescue Coordinator will be responsible for engaging food donors (including retailers, restaurants and other food service businesses) and social service organisations that require food (this could range from emergency food service providers to organisations that simply want to supplement snacks) within the City of Ottawa in recovering food utilizing the Foodrescue.ca platform. The Coordinator will also train donor and receiving agency employees and volunteers on best practice use of Foodrescue.ca. We are looking for a candidate with an outgoing personality, able to communicate clearly and enthusiastically with a wide variety of people to gain support for food rescue.

Responsibilities:

  • Cultivate, nurture, and build positive relationships with food businesses and social service agencies in order to solicit participation in the Food Rescue Program
  • Visit participating donors and recipients to provide technical support, onboarding, training and problem-solving
  • Support the planning and coordination of activities for this new program
  • Collect and maintain accurate records of activities and submit monthly reports
  • Identify and evaluate risks associated with program activities and take appropriate action
  • Build ongoing relationships with agencies to further expand food rescue

Experience, skills and qualifications:

  • Experience with program management and implementation (2+ years)
  • Experience working with community social service agencies or in the non-profit sector
  • Experience building and maintaining relationships across a large cross-section of partners
  • Experience with monthly and quarterly reporting and excellent record keeping; the preferred candidate will be able to demonstrate a professional history of having done similar work.
  • Demonstration of volunteer management
  • Knowledge of Ottawa’s food, farming and restaurant community
  • Outstanding ability to work independently
  • Aptitude for technology with willingness to patiently educate others on functionality
  • Skills in providing training
  • Valid Class G driver’s license with access to vehicle that can be used for frequent travel (mileage compensated)
  • As passion for food justice and environmentalism

The following would be an asset for this position:

  • Bilingualism
  • Sales experience within the food industry
  • Safe Food Handling Certification

This position is a full-time, 8-month contract with funding until 31 December 2019. The nature of work means that the Coordinator must be able to work some flexible hours, including evenings and weekends as required. The person should be ready to start ASAP.

Compensation: $39,000 – $40,000 annually commensurate with experience

Closing Date:

Interested applicants may forward their resume and cover letter in confidence no later than Friday March 29, 2019 to work@parkdalefoodcentre.org

Parkdale Food Centre is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We thank all applicants for their interest in this position. Only applicants considered for an interview will be contacted.

Fork Off! February 2019

Article written by Deb Abbott. Thank you to Sarah Stewart for the photos!

Have you ever tried to prepare a meal just using ingredients from a Food Bank? That’s the challenge that two of Ottawa’s finest chefs faced when they participated in the Parkdale Food Centre’s ‘Fork Off!’ Competition.  Knowing that Parkdale Food Centre stocks food from Canada’s Food Guide is helpful and means there will be fresh ingredients including fresh protein. But still –  preparing a three course restaurant style meal for judges can be pretty intimidating, especially when you normally have a fully stocked kitchen with fancy equipment and all the pots and pans that you would ever need.

Almost three  weeks ago Chef Patrick Garland from Absinthe was defending his title against Chef Tim Stock from Thyme and Again – Chef Garland had won the Fork Off twice before and was defending his title.  Both Chefs arrived early to check out the contents of the Food Bank at Parkdale Food Centre only to find meagre offerings – after a busy week of helping neighbours the shelves were low.  There were canned sardines, canned salmon, canned legumes, lentils, rice, canned tomatoes, peanut butter, baby food, and dried pasta. And in the fridge there was some fresh chicken, fish and ground beef as well an assortment of fresh fruit and vegetables plus three challenge vegetables that if they could incorporate into their dishes, they would receive bonus points. Do you know what Chinese Okra, Lila Malanga or Opal Squash are?  Not your run of the mill ingredients you find in a restaurant kitchen but ingredients that Parkdale Food Centre receives regularly from Produce Depot donations and Chef Simon from our kitchen must come up with some inventive ways to prepare.

The Chefs also  each brought along a sous chef, Chef Garland had his young nephew while Chef Stock recruited his wife who by day is a kindergarten teacher.  Each Chef had ten minutes to shop and then an hour to prepare at least three courses.  The tension was high in the kitchen as the guests crowded around to watch; imagine being less than ten feet away and watching the battle unfold. If you were at a restaurant you would pay well over $100 a person to attend such an event.  But tickets for this event go for a low price of $40 per person. And the entertainment value can’t be beaten.  Plus, before the event began  there was  amazing selection of appetizers and sweets from Thyme & Again, Urban Element, Marcie’s Cafe, Chef Simon Bell, Sarah Stewart, and Deb Abbott. Dominion City provided a wonderful selection of beer.

 

 

The judges and guests were treated to delicious dishes from both Chefs – dishes like butter chicken with pear baby food, served over sautéed kale in Opal Squash boats and Pakoras fried up just perfectly with rice flour.  Chicken stuffed with a mixture that included butternut squash baby food.  Most dishes used the Thirteen Social Enterprise spice blends adding a delicious warmth and depth of flavour.   And we received a generous donation of beautiful Olive Oil from the local Hintonburg business Aurelius Food to enhance each of the dishes.  The competition was stiff between the two Chefs but in the end Chef Stock won by a margin of just two points. What a night!

If you are looking for a great evening out, where you can eat amazing food, enjoy lots of entertainment with battling Chefs, and want to support the Parkdale Food Centre boy do we have a deal for you.  And all the money raised for this event goes towards kitchen programs. Watch out on the the Parkdale Food Centre web site and on our social media pages for the date of the next event. You won’t be disappointed!

Thanks to Deb for this article and to Sarah Stewart for the pictures below.

An epic battle between Absinthe's Pat Garland and Thyme and Again's Tim Stock

Posted by Parkdale Food Centre on Sunday, February 24, 2019

 

Why do people come to the Parkdale Food Centre?

(From left to right): Rachel Godkin-Jackson, Lindsey Grodesky, Douce Chamukenge, Rebecca McCaffrey (Clinical Preceptor), Marjorie Kort (Clinical Instructor)

For a while we at the Parkdale Food Centre have been wondering, “why do people choose to come to PFC?” Not only that, but also, “what barriers do people actually face in eating healthy?”

These are questions we think about regularly but have had trouble answering in a more objective way.

This past semester, we were privileged to have three nurses from U of Ottawa/ Algonquin College come to the Food Centre to complete a nursing practicum course. The three nurses, Douce Chamukenge, Rachel Godkin-Jackson, Lindsey Grodesky, interviewed our neighbours at the intake desk and worked as volunteers to gather the necessary information.

As part of their final project, they have released a report with their findings. It is worth reading and can be accessed here.

A Kitchen Upgrade

(written by Lynda Hansen)

Where would the Parkdale Food Centre be without our wonderful community partners and supporters?

It was just over 3 years ago that we moved in at 30 Rosemount Avenue, after a fast, frenzied fit-up that transformed a dark, rabbit warren-type space into a bright, welcoming community hub, food bank and kitchen. Never in a million years did we imagine just how busy that kitchen would be! A full time Kitchen Manager, daily breakfast and lunch 3 days per week, weekly cooking workshops, community meals, the list goes on.

With the constant and increasing activity came the need for upgrades, repairs, more equipment. Enter St. Matthias Church. For many years, St Matthias had been hosting community meals, once a month at PFC. In February 2016 the St. Matthias Anglican congregation (Parkdale Ave at the Queensway) merged with All Saints’ Westboro (Anglican).  Many long-time members of All Saints’ Westboro joined in with St. Matthias Community Meals volunteer teams and continue to heartily support this legacy ministry of the former St. Matthias Church. Rev Simone Hurkmans, one of the priests at All Saints’ Westboro, along with the Ven Chris Dunn, Rev Dr Linda Privitera and, formerly, Canon John Wilker-Blakley — have all donned aprons and wielded knives or spatulas during our community meals (so they knew the limitations of our kitchen!). In the fall of 2016, they asked us to submit a proposal for funds from the recent sale of their church on Parkdale Avenue. While it was sad for the congregation to leave the St Matthias Building behind, they were delighted to have a portion of its sale price returned to the community in support  of PFC.

**Fast forward to 2018, past all the boring research and requests for quotes**

The Parkdale Food Centre is now the proud owner of a fire suppression system (that we hope to never use!), and a super-efficient dish pit complete with a new-used low temperature dishwashing machine boasting a 60 second cycle, with a new rinse sink and clean tabling. Thank you St Matthias!

But it doesn’t stop there. Without a doubt, it would not have been possible without our long-time supporter, Archer Environmental. They are patient, generous, and always willing to help us out. Our new dishwashing machine was donated and installed at no cost. And if you think that was easy, think again. Installing a new dishwasher also meant we needed the rinse sink and tabling to attach to it. Chef Pat Garland to the rescue! As soon as he saw what we were up to, he offered some tabling from his own busy restaurant kitchen. “I’m going to renovate soon anyway”. Seriously, you can’t make this stuff up. Thank you, Chef Pat!

To make the tabling fit, we had the great good fortune to find Blanchfield
Commercial Kitchens. They were able to pick up the tabling, cut it to suit, and bring it back to us; again, at no cost. We are so lucky! Thank you, Blanchfield!

We also have some great trades and suppliers that made the implementation of these upgrades look easy. Thank you, Gloucester Electric, Fullarton Plumbing, Shields Mechanical, Andersen Fire, Chubb Edwards, and Russell Hendrix for your great work and professionalism.

Our heartfelt thanks and appreciation go out to the St. Matthias congregation for the funds to support these fantastic upgrades. We are so grateful for this help to make our community kitchen more efficient, not to mention safer.

More than a Food Centre

Parkdale is more than a Food Centre and most everyone knows that, but every once in a while you get reminded of that when something happens outside of what is a “normal day” at PFC. Today was one of those days  

We were cleaning up after Collective Kitchen, washing dishes by hand because the dishwasher had broken down. But hey we had a little “dishwashing work bee” happening with many hands and dish cloths and towels making light work of that not so envious task.  A new face appeared at the door – a face of a young person scared, alone, crying, hungry and afraid that the world had lost sight of her.  One of the regular neighbours quickly rallied around her and someone got Karen – who whisked her to a private office to provide comfort and reassure her that she was not alone that there was help that the world hadn’t forgot about her.  

We put the kettle on and made tea.  Lunch was reheated for our new neighbour who hadn’t eaten a proper meal in almost 48 hours.  She quickly gobbled everything up and drank down her tea with hands cupped around the heat of the mug. Lots of crying, sobbing, hugs, more crying, talking and then a few smiles happened.  Forms were filled out so she could seek assistance from the Health Centre located upstairs. Food was gathered into bags for her to take home and in those bags was more tea. Those bags of food, a cup of tea, a hot meal, some friendly reassurances, new friendships, and the appointment and resource assistance with the Health Centre reminded me of the comfort and hope that can and does happen each day at PFC.

What is Growing Futures?

Growing Futures is a response to an increasingly uncertain world.

We are a social enterprise geared towards promoting food and financial literacy in children and youth, so they have a better chance at living healthy and fulfilling lives. We aim to foster a more physically and financially resilient next generation by teaching children and youth the importance of good food, how to grow it, and the basics of running their own business.

Participants develop these critical skills by using hydroponic growing systems to create small market gardens. Through Growing Futures, groups of youth (Harvesters) partner with local businesses (Business Partners), who provide mentorship and a customer base. The leafy greens and herbs grown are also sold to individuals, which increases community access to affordable healthy food.

Growing Futures is a social enterprise created and delivered by the Parkdale Food Centre. The project has sparked the imaginations of schoolchildren, university students, and community members.

It encompasses many people’s stories because we work with such diverse groups and would not have as much impact on their lives if we didn’t bring all those groups together.

We Have Stories to Tell

Let us tell the story of a young man whose experience as a Harvester gave him the pride and confidence to become a peer mentor to other people struggling with addictions. Let us tell you the story of a teenage boy who became passionate about helping people in his community. Let us tell you our story, and by doing so, show how healthy food can be a powerful way to unite people.

Growing Futures’ story is important to tell because people need to hear what we’re doing and the kind of impact we’ve had in Ottawa. Our story is important to tell because it reminds us all why we do what we do when we have difficult days. Our story is important to tell because it reminds us how important our work is, as a sector, and how powerful food can be.

Indeed, everything Growing Futures does is designed to empower our youth and the community at large to develop the skills they will need to thrive in a changing economy. We empower our participants in body, mind, and soul; our produce powers participants’ bodies, our programming powers their minds to dream bigger dreams, and our community powers their souls.