Students get cracking with potato packing

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This article was published 13/10/2020 (2040 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Students from Freedom International School surrounded bins filled with 2,000 pounds of potatoes and onions Tuesday morning, preparing the items for delivery to local families from more than 16 tribes and First Nations represented at their Winnipeg school.

Freedom International and Peak of the Market vegetable supplier were partnered through Second Harvest’s food rescue program.

“Second Harvest is the largest food charity in Canada,” said Wendy Erlanger, food rescue head of operations. “Two years ago, the CEO decided she wanted to move more food surplus across the country, so they developed this platform… They intended to roll it out across the country in 2021, but when COVID hit in April, they rolled out nationally in three weeks.”

Erlanger said food security was already an issue in Manitoba but the pandemic intensified the problem, resulting in the program — connecting food businesses with surplus product with local non-profits — needing to launch early.

Since it started in late April, more than 110,000 pounds of food has been “rescued” in Manitoba.

Francine Wiebe, Freedom International principal, said she heard about the program from a friend connected to a city charity.

Wiebe contacted Erlanger that day, as the need for food at the school increased when it could no longer afford to run its meal program during the novel coronavirus pandemic.

“We felt this would be something that was achievable for us to make sure our students had food,” said Wiebe. “All this food goes to our families. They provide the breakfast and lunches, and the kids bring the cooked food back to school for their meals.”

Wiebe said the importance of food security can’t be emphasized: without it, students struggle in the classroom.

“If I don’t eat breakfast and then I don’t eat lunch, I’m going to start falling asleep. In order for the brain to work, we have to feed the body that holds the brain,” she said. “We’re just very grateful… Peak of the Market and (Erlanger) for reaching out to us. We’re overwhelmed with gratitude for the partnership we have.”

Boxing up the vegetables at the Peak of the Market factory also gave her students an “English experience,” said Wiebe. The students from the independent school for newcomers were able to meet new people and use English in conversation.

The food rescue online platform is easy to use, said Bethany Alards, Peak of the Market quality control manager.

“(Erlanger) walked me through logging in and being able to post what we have available,” said Alards. “It gets claimed by organizations on the other side within seconds and minutes even. By the time I put something up that’s available, somebody had already claimed it.

“It’s really quick, and it’s a great way to get food out to the people who need it.”

Alards added the company had a few extra bins of items that could be boxed up and donated, and was soon partnered up with Freedom International.

“We have some extra boxes here, we have the product, we just didn’t have the labour to put them in the box… they came in today and packed it up,” said Alards.

Erlanger said there are some 70 Winnipeg-based agencies registered for the program, but more are needed.

“We need food donors in this city. They can go onto foodrescue.ca and register for free… We need every small restaurant, bakery, etc. just to consider giving us surplus rather than putting it in the landfill.”

kellen.taniguchi@freepress.mb.ca