Fresh food market

PECFresh enters its third year

The fresh food market PECFresh at the Prince Edward Learning Centre (PELC) recently celebrated its second anniversary and is enthusiastically continuing to provide affordable fresh fruits and vegetables as it begins its third year of operation. The market began after a food advocacy group was formed by learners at PELC in 2018 and made a deputation to Council. That resulted in a grant to set up a weekly “good food market”, which began operating in late September of 2020. Supplies for the market were obtained from a food wholesaler as well as from local farmers whenever possible. Items were typically priced in single quantities or in small portions so that buyers could get only the amounts they needed. Being at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, each customer was assigned a “personal shopper” who would pick up the items chosen and place them in a shopping basket as a way of minimizing handling of the food. While Covid has now taken a back seat, that method of shopping continues to be used. For one thing it maintains the personal connection, and secondly PECFresh has partnered with Community Living Prince Edward to provide some job training for its clients, particularly in the areas of customer service.

Program coordinator Robyn Cakebread is pleasantly surprised that the weekly Wednesday PECFresh market continues to operate, and has expanded to a satellite site at the County Food Hub in Sophiasburgh every other Saturday. “It’s one of these projects that funding is pretty tenuous, and we’ve been very fortunate that Community Food Centres of Canada recognizes the success of our Greens Rx program and they have supported us with additional funding for that program until March,” she said. Participants in the Greens Rx program are referred by healthcare organizations, with some self-referrals, and they have health issues or specific illnesses that can be well-supported through dietary change. “It’s the cardio-metabolic illnesses that are the focus of the evaluation that’s taking place across Canada in many communities,” explained Cakebread. Participants register for a 20-week program and are provided with a gift card to offset the cost of fresh food. In exchange, they are part of a monitoring study to determine how well dietary changes can mitigate a number of health problems. Additional funding for PECFresh comes from The Huff Family Fund and The County Foundation, plus donations from the community. In particular, an anonymous donor has offered a $30,000 gift, provided PECFresh can raise $10,000 on its own.

The food is priced a little over wholesale cost, so it essentially pays for itself and covers the fees of the Square payment system. The food security grants are used to cover the cost of two paid staff—who work very few hours in total—as well as the cost of gift cards provided to the three County food banks, Quinte and District Rehab, Alternatives for Women, the HUB Childcare Centre and Community Care for Seniors.

About 75 to 100 people shop at PECFresh every week, with about 60 per cent of that via online ordering. Some of those orders are delivered by PECFresh volunteers, others by volunteers from Community Care for Seniors, and a number pick up at PELC. “It doesn’t take a ton of money, but you do have to pay people to do the work; there’s a lot involved,” said Cakebread. “Another interesting thing to note is that people paying with gift cards is sometimes a half of the total, so a fairly significant portion of people who are using PECFresh through the food access program and through the greens prescription program.”

The work to set up the market typically begins on Tuesday with an inventory of products and placing the wholesale orders. Cakebread creates a product and price list and sends out an email to customers and posts the information on social media. She also sends out recipes that use the week’s offerings. Volunteers arrive at around 9:30 on Wednesday to be ready for the food delivery at 10, while Cakebread starts her morning by making pick-ups from local farmers or suppliers like the Village Bake Shop in Bloomfield. Online orders begin at noon and end at 3 p.m. Volunteers pack the orders and get them ready for pick-up or delivery. There is a short break until 3:30 when in-person shopping starts, and goes on until 5:30. Left over produce is given to the Picton United Church food bank. “I can’t say enough about the volunteers here, who are incredibly supportive on all different levels. There are people here committed to food security and food access. There are people here who support job training,” said Cakebread. She adds that PECFresh is very well supported by the community, and that she, the other staff and volunteers are always learning and trying the serve the needs of their customers better. Partner organizations such as Ontario Works have praised the work PECFresh is doing to help address food insecurity and to provide food access to everyone. That is part of the reason that makes PECFresh a success story. It is indeed open to everyone. “It is amazing to see how destigmatization of food access is so empowering for people and so comforting. It makes a big difference in people’s lives,” said Cakebread. Please visit princeedwardlearningcentre.com/market/ for more information or to make a donation that will help towards unlocking the $30,000 gift.