A volunteer organization that provides a big helping hand to people suffering from food insecurity in Prince Edward County is getting a helping hand of its own from council.
 
At yesterday's committee of the whole meeting, council extended the free use of arena kitchens in Picton and Wellington for the Food to Share group to the end of next March to continue providing various nutritious cooking programs and classes.

Late in 2018, council granted free use of the Picton and Wellington arena kitchens, to Food to Share and other organizations working on food security in the County for a year.

In the last year, more than 5,000 meals at 90-plus cooking sessions have been cooked and produced through Picton and Wellington food banks, plus volunteers have begun to cook meals for the The Roc (Recreation Outreach Centre) and have started a monthly cooking class with youth at the centre.
 
Chair of Food to Share Heather Ford says they came to council to renew the kitchen usage before the yearly agreement expires on December 31 so that they don't risk losing the space if they aren't able to get a grant application in for in-kind money through the County's Community Grants over $5,000 Program.

Ford explained that extending the usage through the current term of council would address the yearly need for this initiative.

"In my opinion, it doesn't really fit the granting process, because it's not a one-off grant that we're asking for. It's continued use of the kitchens," she noted.

In answering a question from Coun. Bill Roberts on what the implications would be if they weren't able to get an extension in place, Ford said the group "would probably have to find a new kitchen, because we couldn't afford to keep using the arena kitchens and pay for them," which impacts hundreds of people in the community who have come to rely on these meals.

$7,000 from the Community Grants program was recommended for allocation in the 2020 budget for in-kind use of Community Centre kitchen space by organizations fighting food insecurity, which Ford said would not be adequate to cover the amount of time that is required for the kitchens by Food to Share.

"It's about $35 an hour and we're there about three hours every time we cook, twice a week. We also cook about 48 to 50 weeks a year," she said.

Later in the meeting, council managed to adopt $15,000 for the grants program that will be utilized by local food insecurity groups if they apply for that funding.

The application deadline for the Community Grants program is Jan.31, 2020.

Ford admitted that funding they would receive would be a "stop-gap" solution and they would need to come back to council and request more through the budget.

Overall, council supported the usage extension, but Councilllor Janice Maynard suggested just extending the next agreement until March 31, 2020, and ask Community Development staff to provide a report in the meantime, determining what the feasability would be of extending the agreement for the remainder of council's term until 2022.

The matter will also be discussed during 2020 budget deliberations in February.