CENTRE WELLINGTON – Operated out of the kitchen at Melville United Church in Fergus, the Centre Wellington Mobile Market is planning a “food rescue” event with the Skol House in Belwood on Oct. 14.
The event will serve as a fundraiser for the organization so it can continue its services.
“It’s meant for our entire community to be able to enjoy,” said Morgan Short, co-founder of the Centre Wellington Mobile Market.
The day will be filled with music and food vendors offering meals made from “rescued ingredients” secured through Second Harvest, The Geddes St. Market, Salad Days Farm and the Centre Wellington Food Bank.
“We do have to pay rent [for the kitchen], and we don’t have a source of [income]. We don’t make money off of our food, everything we do is free,” said Short.
The Mobile Market
On average, the Mobile Market supports 75 households each week who cannot secure enough nutritious meals to last them a full week.
Clients of the organization have access to this service through meal deliveries, or with pop-up markets. The markets
“pop-up” in neighbourhoods where the Mobile Market has found the most significant demand throughout Centre Wellington.
“We work really closely with the food bank; they’ve been a great support and partner with us,” Short said.
“Once you become a client of ours, you sign up on an intake form, you register with us and it gives us the ability to give your information to the food bank.
“And that’s basically so that, for ourselves as well as the food bank, we know that we are hitting everyone that needs our help.”
For the delivery aspect, the Mobile Market has two delivery drivers on Wednesdays. One covers Elora and south Fergus and the other covers central and north Fergus.
Food rescue picnic
The food rescue picnic will run from 1 to 7pm with a “sliding-scale” payment method for tickets.
“[This] ensures our clients can enjoy the day,” Short stated in an email to the Advertiser.
The event has free tickets for anyone that is finding it hard to afford a ticket and general admission is $30. Individuals can also donate a ticket to help cover the costs for someone else.
Transportation is available for those who may have an issue finding a way to the event. Organizers are still figuring out a pickup and drop-off location, but the rented bus will be centralized.
“We would like to thank the Township of Centre Wellington, the Belwood Lions Club, the Rotary Club of Fergus Elora, Garafraxa Turf Inc. and a number of individuals for the confidence they have shown in our initiative by providing financial support,” stated Mobile Market co-founder Sue McPhedran.
For more information about the event, email cwmobilemarket@gmail.com or visit the organization’s Instagram and Facebook @cwmobilemarket.
