food security network annual report 2013-2014

Food Security Network of Newfoundland & Labrador

Annual Report

2013-2014

Soon to be known as

Food First NL

PHOTO BY SARAH CAMPBELL

2 FOOD SECURITY NETWORK NL

The Food Security Network of Newfoundland and Labrador envisions a province where all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. FSN’s mission is to actively promote comprehensive, community-based solutions to ensure access to adequate, healthy food for all.

About us

2013-2014 ANNUAL REPORT 3

PubLic AwAreNess The first step to addressing an issue is to understand the issue. The Food Security Network of NL (FSN) actively works to increase understanding and awareness of food security, and its impacts, in order to enhance efforts to improve food security across the province.

sTrATeGic PArTNersHiPsFood security is a complex issue that involves multiple sectors. FSN works to build diverse, strategic partnerships to enhance food security in the province.

cOMMuNiTY AcTiON Communities understand local issues and have the ability to make meaningful, positive impacts. FSN catalyzes and supports community action to improve food security across the province.

4 FOOD SECURITY NETWORK NL • 2013-2014 ANNUAL REPORT

90 peR ceNt oF NewFouNdlANd & lAbRAdoR’S FReSh

vegetAbleS ARe gRowN outSide the pRoviNce

NewFouNdlANd & lAbRAdoR hAS the

loweSt RAte oF coNSumptioN oF

vegetAbleS & FRuit iN the couNtRy

mANy RuRAl commuNitieS

AcRoSS the pRoviNce do Not hAve Full gRoceRy

StoReS

moRe thAN

26,000 people Received ASSiStANce FRom

Food bANkS iN Nl iN 2013

chANge iN

climAte & the AvAilAbility oF

wild gAme iS limitiNg AcceSS to

heAlthy, tRAditioNAl Food iN NoRtheRN lAbRAdoR

FOOD SECURITY NETWORK NL • 2013-2014 ANNUAL REPORT 5

Healthy food is essential to the health of our families, our children, our communities, and our province; and ensuring access to healthy food

is at the heart of the work of the Food Security Network of NL. The issue is complex in Newfoundland and Labrador. Individuals, families, and communities face a host of geographic, environmental, econom-ic, and social obstacles in accessing healthy food. Newfoundland and Labrador relies heavily on outside food sources while our largest food industry—seafood—is mostly for export, many communities lack full grocery stores, many households struggle to afford healthy food and depend on food banks, and in addition to this northern communities face complications from changes in climate and availability of wild food. As a result, Newfound-land and Labrador has the lowest rate of con-sumption of vegetables and fruits, and faces many diet-related health problems. This kind of information suggests our food access challenges are absolutely worthy of atten-tion, and that our province is facing problems that cannot simply be solved by encouraging people to eat better—we need approaches that face issues of food access from many perspectives. FSN works to increase access to healthy food by raising public awareness and supporting individual action to improve food security in the province, by catalyzing and supporting food security programs in communities across the province,

A MessAge froM the food security network of nL

board chair & executive director

and by building strong and diverse partnerships to enhance our ability to achieve our mission. 2013-14 has been a busy year for FSN. Communities continue to take huge strides to improve access to healthy food—from new and expanded community gardens, kitchens, freezers, to bulk-buying clubs, and farmers markets established province-wide. We have helped to foster this community action by offering ongoing support, resources, training and networking op-portunities, and supporting and hosting commu-nity events to raise awareness about the issues.

We are thrilled to share this 2013-14 Annual Report highlighting some of the exciting stories and projects of FSN over the past year. Of course, all of this work could not been done without the support of our more than 200 partners, and our funders. We would like to sincerely thank you for making 2013-14 a huge success. We look forward to continuing to work

collaboratively towards our goal of ensuring access to adequate, healthy food for all.

Kristie Jameson executive director

eleanor swansonchair of the Board

We work to improve access to healthy

food by raising public awareness and

dialogue about food security issues in

the province, catalyzing and supporting

food security programs in communities

across the province, and building strong

and diverse partnerships to enhance our

ability to achieve our mission.


FsN by the Numbers

34 Presentations & Film screenings

50 Meetings &

events attended

15Displays

25Media stories

3,062Avg. monthly website views

3,132Avg. monthly

blog views

1435Members

9world Food Day events

200Partners &

collaborators

2013-2014

world Food Day is an international day of action against hunger across the globe,

founded by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Orga-nization, and held every year on October 16—the day the organization was founded in 1945. In Newfoundland and Labrador, World Food Day provides an opportunity to raise awareness of food security challenges faced locally and to celebrate the innovation and hard work by people trying to solve them in communities across the province. In 2013, in partnership with FSN, film screenings, harvest and community meals, garden celebrations, and community presentations were hosted in St. John’s, Carbonear, Marysvale, Corner Brook, Harbour Breton, Hopedale, and Rigolet, with over 200 people in attendance in total. In Harbour Breton a harvest celebration was held in Averee’s Garden. Their garden is dedi-cated to the memory of Averee Pierce, a grade 2 student at St. Joseph’s School in Harbour Breton who passed away in March of 2012. “We have had a tremendous year,” says Sandra

world Food day 2013AwAreness of hunger And poverty, And inspiring soLutions

Daninne, an organizer of the Garden. “The kids grew several new products and were amazed at the results. We’ve partnered with new groups to help promote the message of eating healthy and being self sustainable all while being good to the environment.” “We’ve included the daycare this year and they had their own little herb garden and outside area which they grew beets, onions and lettuce. The kids grew several new products and were amazed at the results.” A community breakfast was held by NiKi-gijavut Hopedalimi: Our Food In Hopedale. The FSN-supported project partnered with the Department of Health and Social Development and the Hopedale Inuit Community Government to host a World Food Day community breakfast in the town. “We had a great turnout this morning! We served 81 people from 7-9am,” says Juliana Flow-ers, NiKigijavut Hopedalimi Coordinator. “Fish n’ brewis, baked beans, quiche, boiled eggs, cereal, oranges, apples, toast, tea, coffee, homemade partridgeberry jam, and fresh milk.”

“we had a great turnout this morning for our community breakfast! we served 81 people from 7-9am, fish n’ brewis, baked beans, quiche, boiled eggs, cereal, oranges, apples, toast, tea, coffee, homemade partridgeberry jam, and fresh milk.” — Juliana Flowers in Hopedale

“we’ve included the daycare this year and they had their own little herb garden and outside area which they grew beets, onions and lettuce. the kids grew several new products and were amazed at the results.” — sandra Dominie, Public Health Nurse, central Health Averee’s Garden in Harbour breton


Nunatsiavut is the Inuit Region in Northern Labrador that is made up of five remote

communities - Nain, Hopedale, Makkovik, Postville and Rigolet - ranging in population from 250 to 1200 people. The communities of Nunatsiavut face unique food security challeng-es, from physical, environmental, and economic barriers accessing traditional, wild foods, to high costs, limited availability, and poor quality of food available for purchase. The NiKigijavut Nunatsiavutinni Project focuses on overcoming these challenges so that all Nunatsiavut residents have access to food that is both healthy and culturally-appropriate. The project approaches this from several an-

Nikigijavut Nunatsiavutinni our Food in Nunatsiavut

coMMunities working together to iMprove food security in northern LABrAdor.

gles: developing community food action plans out-lining food programs informed by local residents, developing a better understanding of the nature of the food issues faced in the region, and connecting people and organizations to create a shared plan for regional action on food security. NiKigijavut Nunatsiavutinni: Our Food in Nun-atsiavut is led by Food Security Network of NL, with funding from the Public Health Agency of Canada, in close partnership with the Nunatsiavut Government, Nain, Hopedale, Makkovik, Post-ville, and Rigolet Inuit Community Governments, Trent University, the Government of Newfound-land and Labrador, and others.


HOPEDALE

Nikigijavut Nunatsiavutinni our Food in Nunatsiavut


Project Vision: A united region of healthy and industrious Nunatsiavummiut who have sustainable, equitable, and dignified access to healthy, safe, and desired foods, practice and pass on food skills and knowledge, and inform healthy food decision making in Nunatsiavut.

PHOTO BY SUSiE BERNiER

A s part of the NiKigijavut Nunatsiavutinni project, community food action plans are

being developed in Nain, Rigolet, and Hopedale through a Community-Led Food Assessment process. These action plans will include programs that address local food security challenges in each community. In 2013 a new gardening program was estab-lished in Hopedale, working with families to es-tablish home-based gardens. The program takes a staged approach where five new families each year will start off indoor container gardens, move to a raised bed garden in a community garden space in their second year, and then graduate to an outdoor raised bed at their house in the third year. Each garden is designed around the family’s tastes, experience, and the space they have available. In 2013, five new families with little gardening experience signed up to participate, potting kale, iceberg and romaine lettuce, chives, parsley, peas and beans from seedlings and seeds, into containers. The families maintained their gardens through the summer and harvested their crops throughout the season, which provided greens for several meals, and leaving families keen to keep growing—and to grow more of—their own food.

hopedale container gardening programusing gArdening As A tooL to Access heALthy food & proMote heALthy eAting



“i liked watching the plants grow right in front of me. it was amazing to see them flowering.”

“i am very interested in trying again now and want to plant more seeds soon. i’d like to grow tomatoes during the winter”

“my granddaughter and i did most of the plant care of watering, planting sunflower seeds, fertilizing, and watching the plants grow. She liked eating the lettuce.”


good food is essential to good health, and improving food skills like cooking, garden-

ing, and preserving can be an important way to support healthier eating habits. In 2012, with funding from the Department of Health and Community Services, the Food Se-curity Network of NL developed eight workshop kits for planting, picking, preparing and preserv-

building food skillsfsn creAted resources for food skiLL workshops to heLp pAve the wAy to Better eAting

ing healthy local food. Between 2013 and 2014, with support from Eastern Health’s Community Development Fund, FSN hosted a training event with twenty community organizations on how to use these kits, and supported five food skills work-shops hosted by agencies across the area covered by Eastern Health.

“cooking presents a perfect opportunity to promote many early learning experiences for children such as math, literacy, science, health and nutrition.” — Tracy Pike, Program Facilitator at the Trinity conception Family resource centre

“No matter the age, everyone taking part in the workshop walked away with a new piece of information. we enjoyed our partridgeberry jam on bannock—traditional bread made by Aboriginal peoples for years.” — breannah Tulk, community Programs coordinator, st. John’s Native Friendship centre

building food skillsfsn creAted resources for food skiLL workshops to heLp pAve the wAy to Better eAting


with assistance from FSN, Trinity Con-ception Family Resource Centre hosted a

bottling workshop during their Parents Night Out program. Participants at the workshop were keen to learn how to preserve fruit, and made strawber-ry and blueberry jam. Food skills education is well incorporated into the programming at the Centre, and they believe that cooking presents a perfect opportunity to promote positive early learning experiences for children in areas like math, literacy, science, health, and nutrition. The Centre hosts Little Cooks, a cooking program for children ages three and up. Attending FSN’s training event and part-nering to host a food skills workshop for parents was a natural fit that enhanced existing capacity. In October, the St. John’s Native Friendship Centre hosted a bottling workshop at their annual Women’s Retreat at Woody Island Resort. During the workshop, elders shared stories of how tradi-tional food was preserved. Several other workshops were held as part of this program, including a Preparing Local Vegetables workshop hosted by the Multicultural Women’s Organization of NL with their com-munity kitchen participants; a Hot Water Bath Canning workshop hosted with Community Sector Council’s Vibrant Communities as part of their Travelling Chef program in Mobile; and a Make Thyme for Herbs workshop hosted at Sobeys Howley Estates in St. John’s in partnership with dietitian Stacey Andrews.

workshopscreAting resources to heLp orgAnizAtions iMprove nutrition And heALth in their AreAs

Food in Newfoundland and Labrador is complicated. Much of our food is shipped

from outside the province. We struggle with some of the highest rates of diabetes and obesity in the country. We have a high rate of food bank usage. In 2013, in coordination with World Food Day, the Food Security Network of NL launched the Good Food Challenge to raise awareness of these issues and encourage people across the province to take action to build a more healthy and sustainable food system. One of the core ideas behind the Good Food Challenge was that everybody can play a role in working toward this complex goal. More than 200 people signed up and shared a pledge for what they would do towards good food, including pledges to eat more local food, grow more food, learn more about food security issues or cook more food from scratch.

2013 Newfoundland & labrador

good Food challengeheLping MAke good food hAppen in newfoundLAnd & LABrAdor

“i pledge to carry healthy snacks with me more often — pecans, walnuts, and dates! oh my!” — stephanie

“i pledge to ask ‘where did this food come from?’” - Kim

“i pledge to eat more apples” - Mason (age six)

14 FOOD SECURiTY NETWORK NL

2013/14 FsN Funders, board, staff

Partners & Funders2013-14 would not have been possible if it weren’t for the generous support from all of FsN’s organizational and governmental partners, collaborators, and funder. The knowledge, resources, and input provided by these agencies have greatly enriched FsN’s 2013-14 activities.

in 2013-14, FsN had funding support from the following sources:

department of health and community services, health promotion and wellness division, government of newfoundland and Labrador, who provides annualized funding to support FsN’s activities.

public health Agency of canada, innovation strategy on Achieving healthier weights in canada, which provides funding suppor for FsN’s NiKigijavut Nunatsiavutinni: Our Food in Nunatsiavut Project running from 2013 - 2017

eastern health, community development fund, who provided project funding for the building and sharing Food skills Across eastern Newfoundland project

department of innovation, Business, and rural development, community capacity Building program, which supported organizational development meetings of FsN’s board of Directors

staffKristie Jameson, executive Directorrick Kelly, communications coordinatorsarah Ferber, Administration and Outreach coordinatorMartha winters-Abel, NiKigijavut Nunatsiavutinni: Our Food in Nunatsiavut regional coordinatorJuliana Flowers, NiKigijavut Hopedalimi: Our Food in Hopedale coordinatorKelly-Ann blake, NiKigijavut rigoletimi: Our Food in rigolet coordinator (June 2013 - Feb 2014)carlene Palliser, NiKigijavut rigoletimi: Our Food in rigolet coordinator (March 2014 onward)regina Dicker, NiKigijavut Nainimi: Our Food in Nain coordinator

board of Directorseleanor swanson, chairMarion Mccahon, Vice-chaircassie Allen, TreasurerMaureen Leat, secretaryMorgan MurrayMichelle LesterMichele woodJill wheatonLynn blackwoodelyse brucecraig PollettPaul Foley

Food Security Network NL44 Torbay Rd. Suite 110

St. John’s, NLA1A 2G4

709.237.4026www.foodsecuritynews.com

www.rootcellarsrock.ca

FSN is grateful for the support and hard work of our volunteer Board of

Directors and our diverse membership. The growth in food security work

across the province comes from many volunteers, community champions, and

organizations starting projects that increase access to healthy food.

How can you get involved?

Sign up for our email newsletter

Follow Root Cellars Rock on Facebook and Twitter

Become a member of FSN

Start or join a local initiative in your community”

food security network annual report 2013-2014

Documents

healthy food

food banks

awareness of food security

traditional food

food preferences

nutritious food

food security programs

issues of food access