A variety of topics related to emergency food needs during the pandemic are being served up during an upcoming online discussion.
A group of community members is convening a meeting to discuss food security. Topics will include emergency food needs during the pandemic, the root causes of food insecurity, community gardens and permaculture.
“COVID-19 has brought this community together to support our most vulnerable, but it has also raised awareness about where our food comes from and how we access it,” longtime food advocate Betina Wheeler said in a press release. “Community members who were never food insecure in the past were all of a sudden faced with bare grocery shelves and loss of income. For me, it highlighted the need to start doing things differently so as a community we come out the other end of this pandemic in a better place; one where we spend more time and energy addressing the underlying causes of food insecurity and less time thinking it is good enough to respond by just providing emergency food supports.”
The discussion is taking place on Wednesday, Sept. 16 from 7 to 9 p.m. on Zoom. To register for the event, go to www. Eventbrite.ca (search for Let's
Talk Food Security in New West.)
Organizers say the goal is to bring together some of the discussions that area happening throughout the community, to create opportunities to share information and to make plans.
“We want to hear what residents are noticing about food access in New West and what we as a collective can do to implement change,” said co-organizer Dominique Roy.
Community members are invited to attend, share their ideas and experiences and take part in planning to create new community gardens and projects relating to food security.
“We want to find out who in our city is eager to share ideas and roll up their sleeves in support of particular projects, such as expanding the network of community gardens in under-served areas,” uptown resident Sarah Hogarth Rossiter said in a press release.
