Good eats in the North End

Burrows

North End

North Point Douglas

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This article was published 19/02/2025 (385 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The North End Community Renewal Corporation reintroduced its Good Food Box program last fall, and organizers have been pleased by both the response and the fact they can help provide better nutritional choices to the community.

Every two weeks, the program gives people the opportunity to buy a box of healthy food at a reasonable price.

While the selection changes owing to a number of factors, the essentials remain the same — onions and potatoes, bread, and a selection of fruits and veggies ranging from kiwis to mushrooms. These are either donated or purchased from partnered grocery stores in the area. The food box is topped off with a recipe, different each time, and sold for $20.

“I can say, from my perspective, that the community engagement with the residents who have signed up for the Good Food boxes has been outstanding,” said Brandy Bobier, food security co-ordinator for NECRC.

“It’s been fantastic to give people an alternative model of currency and spending, to be able to purchase a Good Food Box for a specific amount and then receive double what they’ve put into it. So it’s been a really good opportunity for people to stretch their dollars.”

“It’s such a good feeling,” said Bobier, who also runs Community Helpers Unite.

The program is open to anyone in the NECRC’s coverage area, which includes North Point Douglas, Burrows Central, Dufferin, Inkster-Faraday, Luxton, and Lord Selkirk Park. Regular sign-up deadlines are the Friday before each pickup, with the next deadline being Feb. 21. Reminders are posted regularly on NECRC’s social media pages.

The Good Food Box program was launched in 2014 but on been hiatus since 2020 owing to a lack of funding. Since its restart, organizers have seen a steady increase in participation, according to food security facilitator Roxanne Kent. The new iteration was kickstarted by a $500 grant from the Winnipeg Foundation last summer.

“It’s just amazing to bring this back to community,” Kent said. “It’s been gone for so long, and for people to not have access to food is really heartbreaking. Because everybody should have access to healthy, nutritious food … I just play a small part in this, but it’s great to be able to bring very helpful initiatives to our residents in the North End.”

Bobier and Kent are both from the North End, and see it as a way to give back to their local community. They say feedback has become the program’s lifeblood.

“It’s good for us to hear what people who are also living in the North End (say about) what we think is going on,” Bobier said. “Our goal and our own personal mandate here is to help people in the North End rise up together, so using our own successes and our own stories to help people see us as relevant and see us as peers who are just trying to help.

“It’s a really good feeling, and (the) feedback model is a good way for us to get that validation from residents, that what we’re doing is worthwhile,” she said.

Kent aims to grow the program so that it includes a cooking class, where residents will be taught to create the recipes included in good food boxes. This will be determined as feedback continues to be received.

NECRC has three separate locations, but the Good Food Box program runs from 509 Selkirk Ave. It’s a non-profit organization, and accepts donations. For more information, visit @necrc on Instagram or necrc.org