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The Food Issue
2016
grainswest.com9
BY NATALIE NOBLE
make ends meet, but they are still faced
with impossible choices between food and
rent. While the costs of poor diet affect
people in all economic circumstances,
people living on low incomes are dispro-
portionately affected.
James McAra, CEO of the Calgary Food
Bank, emphasized the difference between
the food bank’s emergency provisioning of
food and the CFC’s contribution to com-
munity development and enhancement.
“I view the CFC as a community hub,
a place for people to come together and
say, ‘What are the skills that we need?’” he
said. “There are so many great things you
can do with food that are not emergen-
cy-based. If someone can go into the CFC,
and they’re active in the programs, and
they learn to thrive, then isn’t that great? I
think that speaks well to The Alex and the
work they’ve done across Calgary. There is
a natural evolution when you combine the
skills and community-mindedness that are
being pulled together in this idea.”
As an organization, The Alex works to
provide barrier-free, “whole health” care,
reaching far beyond primary medical care
to look at all of the determinants—wheth-
er they be social, environmental, physical
and/or mental circumstances—that are
affecting a person’s well-being.
“We envision a robust, diverse food econ-
omy that sustains farmers and the land,
and a social consensus that food is a key
determinant of health,” said MacKillop.
This philosophy made a partnership
between The Alex and Community Food
Centres Canada, whose first CFC location
was Toronto’s The Stop, a perfect match.
Nick Saul, president and CEO of Com-
munity Food Centres Canada, has high
standards when it comes to finding the
right partner to open a new centre.
“This centre needs to be owned and
loved within the community, and we
achieve this by partnering with an organ-
ization that has deep roots in the commu-
nity, one that has great leadership and is
philosophically aligned with our vision,”
he said. “The Alex Community Health
Centre stood out on all fronts. They’ve
been a fantastic organization for many
years, doing terrific, grounded, responsive
work, and that’s really critical.”
Saul added that The Alex’s development
of the first centre west of Winnipeg is part
of his vision to build organizations that
reflect a brighter future.
“When we create centres that are about
health, inclusion, dignity, joy and the
building of skills, sustainability and pleas-
ure, we show our communities what’s pos-
sible,” he said. “We build positive places
where people can find their sense of hope
and self-worth—two key ingredients to in-
dividual and community change—and we
happen to do this through food. There’s a
whole myriad of ways community mem-
bers can get involved—gardeners, cooks,
volunteers—just being active citizens
improving their lives.”
Moved by Saul’s book,
The Stop: How
the Fight for Good Food Transformed a
Community and Inspired a Movement
,
local rancher, philanthropist and current
campaign cabinet co-chair Michael
Kaumeyer knew he had to get involved
in bringing a CFC to Calgary. He started
the Harvest Moon fundraiser to celebrate
food, community and music with acts
like 54-40 and Sam Roberts to help the
efforts. And he doesn’t plan to stop there.
Quality produce from Kaumeyer’s large
vegetable garden, as well as grass-fed
longhorn cattle raised on his 7K Panora-
ma Ranch near Okotoks, are destined for
the CFC once it is open.
“Our hope is to have an ongoing
relationship with the CFC in terms of
supplying them, on top of our fundrais-
ing,” he said.
Like Kaumeyer, Noble also plans to stay
involved beyond the initial fundraising for
the CFC’s startup and first few years of
operation.
“Without the funding, the CFC doesn’t
open,” he said. “The other facets I want
to be involved in won’t happen unless we
raise the funding, and it’s my intent to use
my influence here in the city to get this off
the ground.”
Unlike a food bank, which focuses on emergency food provisions for people in need, the new community food cen-
tre will offer programs to help people learn food skills and prepare their own healthy meals.
Photo: JanineKropla