The Ottawa Food Bank
‘Community Harvest’ Program

at the Black Family Farm

Compiled by Emily French and Phil Mount, based on interviews with
Jason Gray (Community Harvest Field Coordinator)

Download the Community Harvest Case Study:
High res version [pdf 10.3 MB]
Low res version [pdf 1.2 MB]

All photos courtesy of Denise Bonin-Mount

CASE STUDY HIGHLIGHTS

*       Growing project in its 5th year of operation

*       Project farmer hired as full-time staff member

*       Now on four acres of land donated by the Black Family Farm

*       Large and growing pool of volunteers

*       Over 50,000 lbs. of produce grown in 2013

*      Total program yield: ≥120,000 lbs. in 2013,
≥ 155,000 lbs. in 2014

*       Organizational support, fundraising also critical to program success

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Community Harvest program at the Ottawa Food Bank started as a pilot—through funding from the Ontario Association of Food Banks—to increase the amount of fresh produce collected, donated, gleaned or grown for the Food Bank. In five years, the growing project has become the most successful in the province. While the Food Bank has no land of its own on which to grow, they reached out to area farmers, and have established a large vegetable growing operation on farmland donated for their use by the Black family. The generosity of the farm community—and the Black family in particular—has been the cornerstone of the Community Harvest program.

A second key element of the program is the vision of the Ottawa food Bank to commit to a full-time staff member to serve as Field Coordinator, responsible for gleaning and collecting, but also—and primarily—for farming. While Jason Gray wears many hats, including coordinating over 450 volunteers, his experience in vegetable production, and freedom to dedicate his time during the growing season to managing this production, are essential elements of the program’s success—and a valuable lesson for institutions looking to emulate the Community Harvest model.

Project Overview

When they come for the first time I ask them “what brought you here?” — and often, it’s just word-of-mouth. It’s great, because it feels like we are hitting a critical mass now – where the word is getting out: “the food bank is growing food on a farm!”

—Jason Gray (Community Harvest Field Coordinator)

With the recent global economic recession, Ontario Food Banks have seen a 29% increase in use between 2007 and 2012 (Ontario Association of Food Banks 2013). Unfortunately it has become harder to meet this increase in demand as the recession has influenced the closure, consolidation or relocation of many large food processing plants and corporate partners (see e.g. Maurino 2014), who were relied upon for donations in the past. Moreover, fresh produce is typically more difficult for food banks to store and distribute, and historically it was the case that over 70% of food bank clients, “do not receive the minimum recommended daily intake of fruits and vegetables” (Hubner, 2011).

However, more and more food banks are accepting fresh food donations from gardens and farms, gleaning, or growing their own. In the U.S., 17 food banks are producing and sourcing over 5% of their total food directly from local farms, mostly through large-scale gleaning programs (Vitiello et al. 2013).

In 2009, the Ontario Association of Food Banks created the Community Harvest Ontario initiative “in order to foster tangible solutions to alleviate hunger in Ontario and to increase the amount of fresh produce and protein available to food bank clients.” (Ontario Association of Food Banks 2014).

The Community Harvest Ontario program has three main areas of focus: first, to engage local farmers to donate produce that because of minor cosmetic variation (e.g. a difference in size, colour or shape) will not go to market, although it is still both edible and nutritious; second, to collect or “glean” produce left after a crop is harvested commercially; and third, to work with farmers on planting a portion of their land with crops grown specifically for the food bank. Originally the Community Harvest Ontario program was focused on the Greater Toronto Area, but in 2010 the program expanded to include Hamilton, London, Thunder Bay and Ottawa (Ontario Association of Food Banks 2010).

History

Founded in 1984, The Ottawa Food Bank has become the primary food relief organization in the region, feeding 48,000 people a month through the collection and distribution of food to 140 agencies (Ottawa Food Bank 2014).

Part of the reason why the staff decided to become a pilot project site for the Community Harvest program was because the year prior, National Grocers had closed their fresh and frozen produce distribution in Ottawa, leaving only a warehouse for non-perishables, and resulting in a significant drop in produce donations. With the adoption of the Community Harvest program in 2010 the Ottawa Food Bank was able to increase and improve the amount and diversity of local fresh produce that reached users.

The growing project started on Roots and Shoots Farm, an organic farm near Manotick, where the owner, Robin Turner, donated ½ acre of land for a crop of carrots. With funds from Ontario Association of Food Banks, the Community Harvest program purchased irrigation lines that remain on the farm to this day, and paid Turner a small fee for his time spent preparing the land for seeding.

In 2011 the growing project expanded to an acre at Roots and Shoots Farm and an additional half-acre at Knotty Bottoms Farm near Merrickville.  The management of two separate growing locations and the sharing of farm equipment with working vegetable farms proved to be logistically challenging. The winter of 2012 brought a fortuitous offer of land and farm equipment from another local farm, and led to the decision to focus on a single growing site in 2013.

Black Family Farm

Located in the Ottawa suburb of Stittsville, Ontario, Black Family Farm has become the main site for the growing project. Farm owner Tom Black has been incredibly generous, donating his land, time and physical resources to the project. Initially 2.0 acres were allocated for use by Community Harvest, and in 2013 the plot size was increased to 2.6 acres. The expansion allowed for a greater number of different crops and crop varieties to be grown. The 2013 growing season yielded 53,561 pounds of produce—and through intensifying crop production that yield could be even greater. The goal for 2014 is between 70 and 75,000 pounds of produce.

All of the vegetables grown on the farm are intended for fresh eating. The small percentage of seconds—sub-standard produce—are sent to meal programs and member agencies that have the capacity to transform the product. Aside from late season potatoes, distributed with soil on them so that they will keep longer, all of the produce is washed and boxed on the farm. One of the goals is to avoid growing produce (e.g. squash) that is frequently donated or gleaned in large volumes.

The gleaning portion of the Community Harvest program has historically produced the largest yields, and is an efficient method of securing large volumes of high quality produce. However, the expanded growing project accounted for over 50% of the yield in 2013. While gleaning remains an important component, it has become a relatively unreliable sourcing method due to fluctuating growing conditions year to year. Gleaning opportunities have tended to arise during seasons of favorable growing conditions when farmers were more likely have an excess of product in their fields.

A total of 120,071 pounds of fresh produce was grown, gleaned, purchased or donated in 2013 through the Community Harvest program (Ottawa Food Bank 2014). In 2014 the program has produced and collected over 155,000 pounds of fresh produce.

PROJECT RESOURCES

Human Resources

Field Coordinator Jason Gray runs the Community Harvest program and the growing project. He was initially hired for a six-month contract in 2010, but the position has since become full time. Gray has a background in agroecology and has previous experience in organic farming and integrated pest management. He began by volunteering on organic farms around Montreal, studying botany at McGill, and practicing in his own gardens, before studying agriculture at UBC. There, he acquired an agricultural sciences degree in agroecology. While at UBC he volunteered for the Richmond Tree Fruit-sharing project, where he did farming and gleaning. After graduation, he worked for an integrated pest management company, largely on conventional farms. Then he spent a full year on an organic farm in Peachland B.C., co-managing the farm. He believes that the combination of theoretical background knowledge and diverse practical applications allowed him to step into this position, and has served him well.

In addition to overseeing operations at Black Family Farm, Gray coordinates all other aspects of the program including gleaning, produce purchases, donations, distribution, volunteer engagement and recruitment of new farmers.

The Community Harvest program has employed a part time assistant each of the last 3 years and, like Gray, their hours have steadily increased during the summer months, as the growing program expands.  The assistant oversees responsibilities at the Ottawa Farmers Market and provides assistance at Black Family Farm as well as volunteer co-ordination as needed. The current assistant works 30 hours per week over 22 weeks.

Various staff members from the Ottawa Food Bank also provide support to the Community Harvest program.  Since the program’s inception, the Ottawa Food Bank’s Director of Communications and Development as well as the Food Bank’s Volunteer Coordinator have assisted with the recruitment of corporate teams and other volunteer groups to help with the program’s growing project.

Volunteers have always been a key component of food bank operations, and the development of the Community Harvest program allowed them to support the Ottawa Food Bank in a new way. While starting with a listserv of 3,000 volunteers was a definite advantage, the program also ran recruitment campaigns through email and word of mouth. Gray notes that many of the people volunteering for the growing program have never volunteered for the Ottawa Food Bank before. Community Harvest program volunteers are a diverse, intergenerational mix including members of the general public, students, corporate and community groups, who assist in a range of farming activities as well as gleaning and produce donation collection. From 2012 to 2013, the program saw a 72% increase in volunteer participation and now has a roster of 489 volunteers, who donated 1,544 hours in 2013. Most of the volunteers are adults, although the Ottawa Montessori School has come out every year. As the program expands, they continually need more volunteers, and off-season recruitment focuses on schools and corporate groups.

Gray has found that corporate groups—who bring one or several dozen people for the day—are among the most effective and efficient volunteers, although the timing of their visits is not as frequent as is sometimes needed. For this reason, he tries to stagger corporate group visits throughout the season, with one or two per week over the course of the season, to ensure that they have work and he has support, even if a group gets rained out. Corporate volunteer groups have always been an important part of the Food Bank’s warehouse activities, but in summer months—when the warehouse is less active—they are offered another opportunity to volunteer, outdoors.

Conservative expansion of the growing program has allowed them to keep ahead of volunteer requirements, and avoid spending time and energy chasing new recruits. In a sense, the volunteers shape the planning and planting processes. Gray staggers the planting, and grows several varieties of the same crop, so that the crops don’t all grow, mature and ripen at the same time. This spreads out the tasks requiring volunteers, and also provides a bigger basket of products throughout the season. Kale and Swiss chard were added in 2014 because they are simple crops to grow, and easy to harvest while teaching teamwork to groups that include children or young adults. These crops are full of nutrition and diversify their output, with minimal supervision or weeding.

The 2014 season has, for the first time, provided challenges on the volunteer front. The combination of a substantial increase in the acreage of the growing project—from 2.6 ac. in 2013 to 4.25 ac. in 2014—and insufficient volunteer hours in July and early August resulted in some crop stunting due to competition with weeds, and other minor crops lost completely. Regardless, the project attained its target for the season by yielding over 73,000 pounds of produce.

Infrastructure

Equipment

Farm owner Tom Black has donated the use of a tractor and rototiller, and has also fabricated a tractor mounted equipment platform, potato hiller and cultivator for Community Harvest program use. In 2013, Black constructed a 16’ x 16’ deck to house the program’s root-crop tumble washer.

Both grants and Ontario Association of Food Banks funding allowed for the purchase of the tumble washer, a seeder, a tractor-mounted potato planter and harvester, and an eco-weeder as well as irrigation, and insect netting. They are also using biodegradable mulch for many of the warm-season crops, also provided through grant money.

Vehicles

The distance to the farm is significant and inaccessible by public transportation, requiring volunteers to provide their own transportation, or car pool. The final installment of Ontario Association of Food Banks grant funding was used to purchase a refrigerated cube van dedicated to the Community Harvest program.

Information Technology

Planting schedules, crops, harvests and volunteer requirements are all tracked using excel spreadsheets and pivot tables. This allows for quick cross-referencing, and linking to past data. Because the volunteer needs are so dependent on last-minute information and weather, a Community Harvest volunteer listserv is kept separate from the Food Bank’s more sophisticated email system.  If volunteer support is urgently required, Gray simply communicates to the listserv announcing the dates and shifts requiring support.

Parent organization Community Harvest Ontario created a web site that allows donors, volunteers and farmers to connect with their local Community Harvest program. In 2010 the regional coordinators  created a blog titled “Community Harvest Ontario” (http://communityharvestontario.blogspot.ca). Although the site has not been updated in recent years it provides a window into experiences at the start of the program.

Natural Resources

Land and Soil

The Black Family Farm initially allocated 2.0 acres of land for use by the Community Harvest program. In 2013 the site was expanded to 2.6 acres, and in 2014 4.25 acres has been planted. Sustainable agricultural practices, including cover cropping and crop rotation, ensures that soil quality is maintained throughout the site. On a small four-acre plot, crop rotation is difficult, but Gray manages to rotate within the area—although he concedes “it’s not as good as rotating somewhere else altogether”. Although produce from the Community Harvest plot cannot be certified organic because of its proximity to non-organic crops, the project does not use any synthetic pesticides, fungicides, herbicides or fertilizers. Instead row netting is used to deter pests, weeding is either done manually or mechanically and composted sheep manure produced on the farm is used as fertilizer.

Water

A well drilled specifically for the Community Harvest plot provides water for irrigation. The well excavation (a $6000 value) was provided in kind by Peter Stanton, of Stanton Drilling.

Seeds/Seedlings

The Community Harvest program purchases almost $1,500 in seeds every year. Because the program does not currently have a greenhouse, Creekside Nursery provides seed propagation service at a discount, while supplying professionally grown seedlings that make a significant difference to the final quality of the produce. As well, Rideau Nursery donates seedlings annually, providing Community Harvest with an increased diversity of crops.

Financial Resources

Ontario Association of Food Banks

Original funding for the Community Harvest program was acquired by the Ontario Association of Food Banks from the Trillium Foundation, the Metcalf Foundation, and the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation. Funding was allocated to support a range of Community Harvest program needs including: harvest and growing project materials, transportation for volunteers and outreach / harvest site solicitation, as well as 50% of Field Coordinator Jason Gray’s salary. After the 6-month pilot, the Ottawa Food Bank hired Gray full time.

Financial Donations

In 2011, the Community Harvest program began wholesale produce purchases from a local farm with directed funds from two donors. This model of produce purchasing supplemented the harvest with crops not grown in the growing project (e.g. sweet corn) and also allowed Gray to better control the frequency and volume of ‘produce influx’.  This three-way partnership was beneficial for all parties—the donors received a tax credit for their financial donation while a local farm was supported through a sale and in turn the Food Bank was able to distribute bulk produce at a low wholesale price.

Grant Funding

The Community Harvest program has been successful acquiring grant funding from the Community Foundation of Ottawa, Carrot Cache Community Resources, the Harold Crabtree Foundation, Telus and the City of Ottawa. Some of these grants have been written specifically for the program, and others acquired by the food bank, but with a request that the moneys go to Community Harvest. Funding has allowed Community Harvest to purchase a range of farming equipment that has helped to improve efficiency of operations. During years with no outside grant money, the Ottawa Food Bank’s internal accounting budget has helped to cover the cost of ongoing program expenses—a definite advantage to working within a supportive organization.

Liability

For the first three years, the Ontario Association of Food Banks also covered farmers “for any potential damages related to activities on their farm”. Currently, Food Bank volunteers are covered, through a general insurance policy, from any harm to themselves, regardless of location. This policy also covers damage to property while on the farm. While on the farm, volunteers are not allowed to use any power tools or the tractor, and Gray only uses the tractor in the field when volunteers are present if there is no other choice—for example, when harvesting potatoes.

Community Resources

During the program’s first year in operation there was a great deal of media interest from TV, radio and print. Media coverage was particularly focused on gleaning activities and the initial growing program at Roots and Shoots Farm. The exposure was successful in raising public awareness about the program and managed to draw volunteers as well as local individuals interested in donating land for the following year. The program was also recently featured on the CTV news and Morning Live shows—and will hopefully once again generate increased community awareness, and some much-needed volunteers.

For the last 5 years, the Community Harvest presence at the Ottawa Farmers Market has also been a valuable way to connect with—and maintain strong relationships with—the local farming community. The program assistant attends the farmers market each Sunday afternoon and in addition to asking for donations, purchases produce at a discount from vendors. This frequent contact reminds farmers to keep Community Harvest in mind when a gleaning opportunity arises. In 2011, Gray also had the opportunity to connect more formally with the members of the Ottawa Farmers Market when he presented at their Annual General Meeting, resulting in a large number of farmers pledging their commitment to assist the program in some form. Gray maintains that the support that the Community Harvest program has received truly speaks to the generosity of the agricultural community that surrounds the city of Ottawa.

Future Community Connections

Hidden Harvest is a community-based social-purpose gleaning enterprise “aiming to create a blended return on investment that is financial, social and environmental” (http://ottawa.hiddenharvest.ca). The group worked with the food Bank on a limited pilot, to deliver a portion of their 2013 fruit and nut tree gleanings to five Food Bank member agencies. Opportunities exist for Hidden Harvest and Community Harvest to work together on food processing events, using ‘seconds’ from their combined harvests to build community skills and education.

Resources Needed to Sustain the Project

Although support is made available by other Ottawa Food Bank employees, Community Harvest Field Coordinator Jason Gray and his assistant are the two main players responsible for the operation of the program. It is clear that continued support for these positions is essential to the continued success of the program. However, it is equally clear that the growing program at Black Family Farm would never have been possible without Tom Black’s generosity and the hours of labour provided by volunteer groups.

Secure Funding

Attracting new sources of funding or program sponsorship for the program is a priority, as funding is key to improving their program capacity. Gray would like to see more directed funding, whether from grants—such as the Local Food Fund—from corporations or from private donors. The program still needs capital inputs, including a greenhouse, lean-to or coverall building, additional tools and more tractor implements.  Partnering with corporate groups on fundraising is one possibility worth pursuing. The funding for the program has never been limited by the Food Bank, and—aside from the coordinator’s salary—about 1/3 of the program requirements in the past year came from grants. Both grants and the Food Bank play key roles in the success of the program.

Future Plans

Gray would like to continue to expand the project, and provide more educational opportunities for volunteers. While they currently experience all aspects from planting to harvest, he would like the opportunity to show them how and when plants are started. This would require a greenhouse, which could be situated at the Black Family Farm, but propagating seedlings would also eat into Gray’s time available for other Food Bank duties. In the past, when he had more time, Gray visited schools to demonstrate seed propagation, and encouraged the children with their own garden on the growing site. While this practice has fallen prey to lack of time, it was something that he really enjoyed.

Gray would also like to grow more healthy, leafy greens (kale, chard, lettuce) in the future. While the Food Bank does occasionally receive pallets of pre-packaged lettuce, he would like to add this fresh product on a more consistent basis.

The production project—because it’s organic—is likely to have increased pest pressures in the years to come. Gray forecasts that the percentages of grade A quality will slowly diminish over time. As a result, they will have to make sure that they have the outlet for seconds, or start processing, with partners. Flash freezing vegetables—so that they are still healthy products—is one option, but community kitchens are also attractive, for different reasons. Gray sees them as a missing link: a community kitchen that’s accessible to community groups offers low-cost benefits for education. By partnering with organizations like Community Harvest or Hidden Harvest, these kitchens could use some of the seconds coming off the farm or from other Ottawa properties in demonstration events, while providing a product that the Food Bank can use.

Constraints

Most people—including myself when I started—don’t know that we distribute produce, fresh produce. Last year, in fruits and vegetables alone we distributed 540,000 pounds of produce. While the introduction of Community Harvest program has been beneficial to the Food Bank, it still only represents approximately 20% of this annual throughput because it’s only supplied from late June until mid-November. —Jason Gray

The production project involves trial and error. In 2013, Gray grew seven lines of potatoes to see which ones grew best—eliminating some and adding a new variety in 2014. The land is not ideal for potato growing: it’s loamy, but the pH is quite high for growing potatoes.

A second constraint is the capacity to store food in the Food Bank’s industrial cooler in the month of September, when wholesale warehousing partners in the local food industry typically increase their volume of produce donations. “It’s kind of a juggling act, making sure that we don’t grow too much—or that I won’t be harvesting too much—at that time of year. There are times when I have to postpone our harvest a bit, when I know we’re a bit limited on space.”

The food bank looked into temporary storage space, to cover that one month shortfall, but decided that independent transportation for the program was more of a priority. Until that point, Gray had been borrowing one of the Ottawa Food Bank cube vans, and had to do all of his scheduling based on its availability, which was a real challenge.

The Community Harvest program now has a dedicated, refrigerated truck, enabling Gray to schedule activities—especially harvests—to accommodate groups that are willing to help, usually only on one or two specific days.

Requirements

The main requirements for selection of a Community Harvest program growing project site are: availability of infrastructure/equipment and on-site support as well as proximity to the Ottawa Food Bank. Although some of the offers of land have been closer to the Ottawa Food Bank, they do not satisfy the other requirements making Black Farm, in Stittsville, ON, the best choice at this time. Although the Black Family Farm is further away than some of the other sites (approximately 30 minutes south/west of the Ottawa Food Bank), the resources and infrastructure available to the Community Harvest program—in addition to Tom Black’s support—is “quite rare”.

Currently the program manager establishes yield goals based on the site and feasibility, as well as conversations with the agency relations manager, to determine what is requested by their member agencies. While gleaning opportunities and donations are out of their control, Gray would like to develop a means of using member agency volume requirements and a survey of clients’ produce preferences to assist in planning for the next year. The Food Bank is in the process of implementing a robust inventory management system. It has significant capabilities, and requires a stepwise process to implement all of the pieces—and may be able to deliver messages to an online message board, as well. These would be tied directly to current inventory, along with what they forecast is coming in. Hopefully by the winter of 2015 they will have good data from member agencies to help with the planning for the planting season.

In the absence of a means of surveying member agency needs in the past, to fully understand the cultural balance of their clients and food preferences, the program grew crops—with the possible exception of eggplant—that are broadly culturally acceptable. The program started by growing only storage crops, with the idea that they could stretch out the produce beyond the growing season. They quickly learned that, without mechanized harvesting, the food bank could distribute these crops as quickly as they could harvest. For the kale and Swiss chard—new in 2014—Gray put together a 2-page brochure with recipes and cooking instructions.

The Community Harvest program is also in need of an organization to do a high quality video about the farm and all of the people involved, preferably for free.

As the Community Harvest program continues to grow, the volunteer base needs to grow along with it. Gray would like to focus on attracting more corporate and school groups to help with program expansion.

SUCCESSES

Success of the program can easily be gauged by the enthusiastic response from member agencies. Ursula Gaffney, of Britannia Woods Food Pantry states, “I can only say how happy we are when we are able to supply these items [fresh produce], and see the recipient’s enthusiastic receipt of them”. Volunteer coordinator Sylvie Carriere, of Partage Vanier (a food bank servicing the Ottawa community of Vanier) elaborated: “the Community Harvest Program enables us to offer fresh produce to maximize a well balanced supply of food. Since 35% of our clients are children, Partage Vanier is very proud to be able to offer these vital food groups for healthier and nutritious diets. Once again, our clients feel fortunate to receive a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables”.

Not only has the Community Harvest program been successful in providing fresh produce to member agencies, the quality, quantity and diversity of the produce has also continued to increase since the start of the program in 2010. Farm gate donations, Ottawa Farmers Market vendor donations as well as growing project yields have all continued to rise. In the 2013 season, 104,710 pounds of fresh produce were generated from gleaning and the collection models mentioned above, 87% higher than the previous year.  In addition to the staple crops already grown at the Black Family Farm, eight new crops were introduced, and the program as a whole doubled the variety of produce from 7 in 2012 to 14 in 2013. When food purchases are accounted for, the 2013 yield total was 120,071 pounds (+69% above 2012).  In 2014, the total program yield is on track to exceed 155,000 pounds (+29%).

CHALLENGES OVERCOME

Some of the challenges identified in the early years of operation included: increasing corporate volunteer engagement; finding new locations for the growing program; expanding the diversity of crops grown; and finding grant funding for a vegetable washing station and a Community Harvest cube van.

Commitment from corporate teams, student classes and community org-anizations has grown steadily over the years. The Black Family has provided a location with ample space for expansion, allowing the growing project to focus its efforts on a single site.

As with all farming operations, the Black Family Farm and other branches of the Community Harvest program are at the mercy of the weather. After dry conditions affected the yield of the 2011 carrot growing project, the 2013 growing season was delayed by cool, wet weather, which continued throughout the summer, slowing ripening and leaving crops vulnerable to fungal attacks. The 2014 growing season produced more of the same, with damp and cold affecting some crops, particularly warm weather crops like tomatoes. At the same time as the wet growing season was producing mildew and blight on certain crops, others suffered from lack of irrigation at critical points in their growth. The growing project continues to expand its effective strategy for dealing with this seasonal variability through crop diversification, which now includes 14 different crops, many with multiple varieties.

RELEVANCE TO OTHER PROJECTS

While Gray would like to see this type of program replicated at other food banks, it requires some start up capital to make it happen, and most food banks just don’t have the resources. This speaks to the value of the initial seed funding from the Trillium Foundation, the Metcalf Foundation, and the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation, which allowed the Ontario Association of Food Banks to start the Community Harvest Ontario program.

The growing project at the Black Family Farm is also an excellent example of the generosity of individuals and communities, and demonstrates that high yields can be achieved even from a few acres of land.  Although the idea of ‘food bank crops’—crops grown expressly for the purpose of donation—is not unique to the Community Harvest program, the success of the growing project at the Black Family Farm demonstrates that this is a model that can and should be replicated in other cities to improve the quantity and quality of fresh produce available to those in need.

Online Resources

Ottawa Food Bank: http://ottawafoodbank.ca

The Community Harvest Program:  http://ottawafoodbank.ca/programs/community-harvest/