THUNDER BAY — In the middle of the organized chaos that comes with loading food boxes each month, a milestone was reached for the Thunder Bay Good Box program on Wednesday afternoon
The program, which is administered by the Northwestern Ontario Women’s Centre and has been around since 2005, loaded up its 80,000th box of fresh fruit and vegetables at the Moose Hall.
“We’ve definitely moved a lot of tonnage in terms of vegetables and fruit over the years,” Northwestern Ontario Women’s Centre executive director Gwen O’Reilly said.
“We couldn’t have done without the help of people in the community, whether that’s the volunteers here or the sponsors that support us.”
The program’s goal is to increase access to fresh and affordable produce for families and individuals with low or fixed incomes.
Around 50 boxes were packed on a monthly basis when the program started. Now over 500 boxes are sent out through Thunder Bay and the district on a regular basis.
“The need is high,” O’Reilly said. “We’ve had a lot of long-term customers over the years and the surveys that we get back tell us that for more than of half of them, the Good Food Box program is the only fresh fruit or vegetables they have in the house each month.
“We’re starting to find that people can’t afford the $22 for a box each of month. If that’s the case for people with young families, it’s a serious issue that needs to be addressed.”
Each box contains potatoes, onions, carrots, bananas, apples and oranges, in addition to other produce. For example, October’s box featured extra beets and broccoli.
“A lot of our main items stay the same,” Good Food Box program coordinator Sherry Scott said. “With the different items we put in, we also include a newsletter that goes over how to cook the extra vegetables and healthy fun ways to use them.”
The preparation of each box is done on the third Wednesday of each month at the Moose Hall. They are then shipped out to various pickup points in the city.
“It’s almost like a choose your own adventure when you come in as there are different parts for everyone to do,” Scott said with a laugh.
“We have a great cross-section of the population that help us out and its really the volunteers that power all of this. To see them pack over 500 boxes each month is pretty amazing.”
While Wednesday’s 80,000th box marked a big milestone for the program, it does come with mixed emotions for Scott.
“Ideally, programs like this or other emergency food programs wouldn’t need to happen and those that are using them are able to make a wage where they can afford fruits and vegetables on a regular basis,” Scott said.
“For now, we’re going to keep going here and offering discounts through the subsidized coupons to help offset some of the costs.”
For more information on the Food Box Program or to help volunteer with the monthly box packing, contact Scott at 807-345-7819 or visit the organization’s website.
