CENTRE WELLINGTON – Deliveries from Groceries from The SEED are arriving at doorsteps across Fergus and Elora thanks to a recent $10,000 grant from the Centre Wellington Community Foundation (CWCF).
Part of the Guelph Community Health Centre, Groceries from The SEED (the name of the program) is built on a social enterprise model where success is measured not by profit but by social benefit.
Groceries are purchased at wholesale prices and some food is donated from partners like Everdale Farms in Erin.
Around a third of customers purchase groceries at a regular grocery store retail prices, covering the hit taken by offering the same selection of groceries at reduced, sliding scale pricing to those who don’t have as much cash to spend on full-priced food.
“I think what attracted me is it’s a sustainable solution … this is a program that could be going on for years and years to come,” said Peter McPhedran, a retired medical doctor and CWCF board member who is trying to address local food insecurity.
The SEED’s delivery format solves what McPhedran says is a stigma issue tormenting the county’s “hidden hungry,” who suffer from hunger rather than reaching out to a food bank for a hand in addressing food insecurity.
A Groceries from The SEED van is seen loaded with grocery bins destined for Centre Wellington on Dec. 21. Photo by Jordan Snobelen
“If a delivery truck comes to my house, and I’m paying that full retail, and then it goes down the street to somebody else’s house who’s paying 75 per cent, nobody knows the difference,” McPhedran said.
Although the CWCF dollars are helping to cover transportation costs for a year to help establish the program in Fergus and Elora, its potential success could prove the model is worth trying out in other areas of the county.
McPhedran said he and the foundation’s members are hoping the program “will get a big uptake.”
So are the many working in the background at The SEED to bring about a more equitable food system to the county.
“Rising food costs are hard for everyone at any income, but they definitely disproportionately affect folks with lower incomes,” said The SEED community resources coordinator Madeline Barber.
She added the organization wants to eventually expand its service to the entire county.
“It’s on our radar always,” she said. “It’s not an ‘if’– it’s a ‘when.’”
In April 2020, The SEED received emergency government funding to get free food hampers out into the community, but as with all such measures, the well soon ran dry.
This past April, The SEED introduced their sliding-scale grocery model to keep the mutual aid sustainable.
Twice per week, community volunteers arrive at 69 Huron Street in Guelph, a space donated by Wood Development Group, to assemble grocery orders.
At the front-end of the packing line on a recent Tuesday, volunteer Lorraine Johnston checked an order list, loading a bin with canned food.
“Food is very important and I think everyone should have healthy food,” Johnston said before passing the bin forward, where more items were added by volunteer Karen Kent.
Farther down the line, Christopher Kelterborne added softer, more fragile items like cucumbers.
Christopher Kelterborne assembles a grocery order in Guelph on Dec. 21, 2021. (Photo by Jordan Snobelen)
It was Kelterborne’s first time volunteering with The SEED and he wanted to help support those in need during the Christmas season.
Nearby, Grace Da Maren said, as a mom, she understands the challenge of stretching dollars to feed multiple mouths and said the program gives people confidence in being able to feed themselves.
Once the bin arrives at the end of the line, stocked with everything from pantry items to fresh veggies and bread, it’s stacked and wheeled away by volunteer Sarah Fogler to be loaded into waiting vehicles and delivered by volunteers and staff around Guelph – and now Centre Wellington, as of September.
The county route is covered by The SEED staff with five to six orders being delivered each Tuesday.
“We would love for it to be more,” Barber remarked.
But for the program to scale up, at least half of The SEED’s customers need to pay full price.
There are around 100 people receiving the program’s deepest discount of 50% off the regular grocery store prices, according to Barber, with a significant list of people waiting to join.
Nicole Leighton, who started off as a volunteer at The SEED before transitioning into her current staff role as a packing lead, said even with the program’s half-off discount, some are still unable to afford food.
In Elora, Andrew Horne and Atnu Bhattacharya carefully navigated snow and ice with a cart stacked with grocery bins, unloading bags of food on a porch.
Andrew Horne and Atnu Bhattacharya deliver bags of groceries to an Elora resident on Dec. 21, 2021. (Photo by Jordan Snobelen)
The recipients, a family including two parents and seven children, rely on the program’s discount to put quality food on the table after both parents lost their sources of income due to the pandemic.
“It’s really made a difference in our family,” one of the parents said of Groceries from The SEED.
“I can feed them … without struggling as much.”
The Advertiser agreed to a request not to name the parent in this story because of the stigma associated with food insecurity.
To sign up for the Groceries from the Seed program, visit: www.theseedguelph.ca/groceries.
