This mobile market in Cambridge helps people buy fresh, affordable produce
Food market is based on a pay-what-you-can model, with a minimum of $5
The Cambridge Food Bank is making sure people can afford fresh and healthy food with a mobile market that embraces a pay-what-you-can model.
The idea comes as inflation, cost of living and low social assistance supports are affecting more Ontarians than ever before, forcing more people and families to use food banks and their services in 2022.
Fruits and vegetables were the most needed and difficult to afford items for families, according to a survey of food bank users in 2019, said Amy Slack, manager of operations for the Cambridge Food Bank.
From that survey, Slack said, the food bank also learned that most people are willing to pay for quality food.
"A mobile food market versus a mobile food bank creates a sense of pride and ownership," she said. "Folks don't need a handout all the time. Folks are able and willing to pay because they see the value."
Their model has users pay a minimum of $5 for their purchase, but people can pay more if they want. Anything over and above the minimum $5 helps keep the market program going, Slack said.
Andy Timmerman and other nurses at the Langs Community Health Centre have been making good use of the market. She's part of a small group that come out every Thursday to buy food for patients who can't make it to the market themselves.
"We have a lot of families that need a little extra, and we know how expensive fresh food is to purchase," Timmerman told CBC.
"We'll see who's coming in the next day or two, and Langs will have vouchers and we'll be able to fill up a bag for those people who are then coming in, so that we're able to provide fresh produce for our families in need."
A farmers' market on wheels
The market stops at different locations throughout Cambridge and North Dumfries on Tuesday through Friday.
"The goal of the mobile food market is to be a farmers' market on wheels. We want to embody that environment and embody that energy," said Patrick Doyle, co-ordinator of the Mobile Food Market.
Doyle said the food bank purchases the food for the mobile market from local farmers and food terminals to ensure a good variety. He said they try to keep the food seasonal, just like at stationary farmers' markets.
"For instance, at this time of year, in the fall, we're seeing squash fairly regularly, we're seeing root vegetables fairly regularly," he said.
"We'll try to keep a variety, to the best of our ability, but we also want people to understand and learn about the seasonality of produce."
A peer health worker travels with the market to help people make the best use of the produce available. They can explain an item's nutritional value and how to cook it, Slack said.
The market exists for anyone in the community to use, but Doyle and Slack have seen the difference the market has made for seniors on a fixed income and families with young children.
"They don't necessarily identify as being a food bank family, but the rise in cost of anything in the city, household gas, the astronomical cost for food, the impact [of] the mobile food market has kept these folks eating fruits and vegetables," Slack said.
"It expands that for the $5 or $10 that they pay that week. They're able to save the money and spend it on other things at the grocery store, or they have money so they can have produce at home that week."
Sounds of the Season is our annual holiday fundraiser in support of The Food Bank of Waterloo Region. Our goal is to raise money, donations and awareness for those facing food insecurity in Kitchener-Waterloo.
