Demand spikes for Church Out Serving’s vegetables
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Poor nutrition is flying under the radar as an additional health consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Church Out Serving in Simcoe reports increasing demand for fresh vegetables from its ever-expanding network of community gardens is due, in part, to pandemic lockdowns, job losses and fear of shopping in public places where the coronavirus may be circulating.
“It’s a variety of things,” says Eric Haverkamp of Simcoe, chair of the Church Out Serving board of directors.
“There is some job loss, and people not being able to work gainfully as they did previously. Some are really suffering from that.
“That’s the purpose of our beds – to help those that don’t have access to healthy food.”
Church Out Serving’s Gathering Food Gardens program began five years ago. Since then, it has expanded to 22 beds in five locations. Production this year includes beans, peppers, garlic, onions, zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, beets, kale, cabbage, carrots and squash.
Haverkamp estimates demand for Church Out Serving’s fresh and frozen dinners and food baskets has quadrupled since the global pandemic was declared in March, 2020. Given this increase, Haverkamp said Church Out Serving and its volunteers could distribute as many as 17,000 servings of healthy vegetables by the end of the year.
Church Out Serving is looking forward to continued growth. The group’s Riversyde 83 “foodhub” in downtown Simcoe will be up and running and fully functional soon. When that happens, onsite programming and ongoing community outreach promise to accelerate even further, Haverkamp said.
Church Out Serving’s community gardens are located at Evergreen Heights Christian Fellowship, Calvary Pentecostal Church, the Good Humor-Breyers ice cream plant, Old Windham United Church, and at the Indwell apartment complex at the former Hambleton Hall on John Street.
Sponsors of the community garden program include Eising Greenhouse and Garden Centre, Meadow Lynn Market Garden, Great Lakes Excavation, Shabatura Produce, Stokes Seeds, Stripe Art, Scotts Canada, Rona and Gintec Shade Technologies.
