With winter only half over, the Poverty and Hunger Working Group held its first indoor market of the new year on Jan. 25, offering fresh produce to the Centretown community despite the frigid weather.
The Poverty and Hunger Working Group is a product of the Coalition of Community Health and Resource Centres. The coalition provides community-based resource centres that cater to the diverse needs of its residents. Through the CCHR, the Poverty and Hunger Working Group was found and now participates in the creation of many unique programs such as the Good Food Markets program.
As part of an initiative to help those struggling with low income, the group launched its Good Food Markets program in 2012, holding four pilot markets throughout the city of Ottawa that summer.
Due to a high response rate, Good Food Markets has now expanded to six different locations throughout the city. This winter it launched its first out-of-season markets, giving the community easier access to fresh foods during the cold months.
The Centretown market is held at the Ottawa Community Housing building on Laurier Avenue. The market goes by the name Nanny Goat Hill Good Food Market and is named after the community garden near by.
At the market, shoppers can purchase fresh produce such as fruits, vegetables and herbs, as well as nuts and dried goods. Much of the inventory consists of foods that are more expensive during the winter months.
Kaitrin Doll, anti-poverty community engagement worker for the CCHR, explains that instead of marking up the price 100 per cent like most grocery stores, Good Food Markets mark up the price only 10 per cent, allowing prices to remain affordable while still giving the initiative some money to work with. Doll also serves as a co-chair for the Poverty and Hunger Working Group.
The tables are filled with colourful produce such as lemons, apples, avocados, kale and broccoli. In partnership with Good Food Box Program at the Centretown Community Health Centre, the group purchases the produce at wholesale and sells it back to the community at a lower price than they would find at the grocery store.
“We got a really positive response from people wanting more markets,” says Doll. “The next big thing though was that people wanted it throughout the winter because obviously it’s that much more challenging to access foods during the winter.”
Doll explains that the products they sell through the market are the same as what customers can expect from the grocery store, but with a lower price tag. By lowering the price of fresh produce, the PHWG exercises its overall goal of making good nutrition more accessible to the public and to those struggling with a low or fixed income.
“We really want to de-stigmatize poverty and promote this as a market for everybody,” says the group’s co-chair, Jamie Hurst.
“They are set up so people with fixed incomes can access them easily, but we want everyone to come out.”
The market also features dieticians available to customers who have questions about how to use healthy foods in everyday cooking.
“People ask all the time: ‘What do I do with kale and what do I do with a sweet potato?,’” says volunteer Maureen Walsh.
“They say, ‘How do you cook asparagus’ and ‘What can you make with avocado or artichoke?’ You begin to realize that not everyone knows what or how to use these beautiful things.”
From behind the scenes right up to the produce table, event co-ordinator Shannon Szkurhan says the main purpose of the market is to build a sense of community and promote availability of fresh foods.
“The daily challenges of people with lower incomes or mobility issues are great enough just getting out of bed everyday,” says Szkurhan.
“Just being able to alleviate the stress that comes with getting to the grocery store is very important and it’s definitely a cause that is close to my heart.”