A Lunenburg couple offers a helping hand in the face of growing food insecurity

David Jarvis and Karen Beals-Jarvis spent their Friday afternoon making nine hunter's pies, a dish using deer meat.

It's not for a family potluck. They will stock up a community pantry located behind a small business called The Water Market on the outskirts of Lunenburg, N.S.

The couple created the We Feed Lunenburg Facebook group in 2022 to organize gardeners in the community to donate excess produce to the local food bank at the Central United Church. The group has since grown to better respond to the surge in food insecurity. 

"When people think of Lunenburg, you don't think there might be people who are struggling to survive," Jarvis said. "But it's a very rural community, everybody has to have a car. And if you're faced with a choice, to put gas in the car or feeding yourself … not many people can afford to do that."

They began by bringing some of the produce from their garden to the food bank. Community support grew, but so did demand.

Over the summer, We Feed Lunenburg opened a community pantry. It is refilled twice a day and operates separately from the food bank.

When the couple moved to Lunenburg in 2019, they began growing vegetables in a tiny greenhouse to become more self-sufficient. 

However, after meeting a neighbour who volunteered at the food bank, they began independently donating some of what they grew.

A while later they started the Facebook group.

"We figured if we get 100 people in that group and 10 per cent could give us a tomato we'd start to build up quite a lot of fresh produce," said Jarvis. 

Soon enough, Jarvis, who has training as a baker, began making cookies, bread and muffins to donate.

The group now has 600 people, including local businesses, bakers, gardeners and others who just want to be involved.

The couple noticed over time that the demand for food was on the rise, especially among seniors, young couples and newcomers. 

According to the HungerCount 2024 report, there was a six per cent increase in food bank visits in Canada in 2023-24 compared to a year earlier. The figure rises to 21 per cent in Nova Scotia.

The high demand is putting a strain on food banks around the province and some of them have been forced to cut the food items they offer. 

Alicia Van De Sande co-owns The Water Market with her partner, Lee. When the Jarvis couple asked if they could place a pantry behind the store, she knew she had to say yes. 

"We knew that the need was there and this just seemed like the perfect way to be able to help," she said.

Beals-Jarvis said the pantry was an immediate success. But she said that is "actually quite sad."

"We would have rather it didn't take off because that would have been a sign there wasn't a need," adding she and her husband have since made We Feed Lunenburg an official charity and are thinking about expanding the pantry.