Red Deer non-profit feeds families and communities in need through year-round greenhouses

Winter might be just around the corner, but in Raygan Solotki's research greenhouse the tomatoes are still green and ripening on the vine.

Solotki is the executive director of nonprofit organization, Green Iglu, which works with communities suffering from food insecurity, from First Nations to food banks, helping them set up year-round greenhouses and domes that provide fresh produce and run food-related education and programs.

She started working with the organization in the Northwest Territories but says food insecurity can happen anywhere.

"It's in big cities and it's here in Red Deer," said Solotki.

"Coming from Inuvik, my image of Alberta is there's so many farms and this is the land of milk and honey, but it's not. There are still people who are struggling."

Solotki, working with another charity called Relay, helped the Red Deer Food Bank set up a heated geodesic dome greenhouse this summer, with a 52-foot hydroponics system also in the works and expected to be in place this winter.

That allows the food bank and its clients to access fresh cost-effective vegetables, salad greens and herbs all year round, adding sustainable and healthy foods to families and individuals who need help putting food on the table.

"They can have fresh greens every week instead of having to wonder what's coming in. They have control," said Solotki.

The Red Deer food bank says its new dome is already making a difference in the community, where 1,100 households per month need help.

"We're growing fresh food to ensure we have something of a fresh nature to help these families," said Mitch Thomson, the food bank's executive director.

Thomson says it's part of a broader plan to move people from dried and canned goods to more healthy produce.

"Domes like this have been proven in the Arctic and being able to do that here in Red Deer just makes sense."

Thomson says the hydroponic system in a converted shipping container that's currently in the works will allow them to grow up to 500 heads of lettuce per week.

"That's really going to make a difference," he said. "We can pull something right from the vine today and send it out to families, still today."

Green Iglu is hosting its first-ever food security forum in Red Deer later this month at Red Deer Polytechnic.

It will feature guests speakers and presenters from Canada and around the world talking about making small-scale changes in their communities to improve food security.