Community. Respect. Caring. Co-operation. Empathy.
Those are the threads that unify the programs that the Shelbourne Community Kitchen offers as it seeks to stitch together a tapestry of support for people who are trying to cope with rising food costs and insecurity in Saanich.
“For many people, especially if they are receiving social assistance or making minimum wage, the cost of food and the cost of housing has continued to rise, but people’s incomes haven’t,” said executive director Laura Cochrane.
Located in the 3500 block of Shelbourne Street, the organization emerged in 2014 after representatives from partnering organizations St. Aidan’s United Church, St. Luke’s Anglican Church, Lutheran Church of the Cross, Mount Tolmie Community Association and Camosun Community Association had been noticing signs of rising food insecurity. “And we wanted to provide a co-ordinated response,” said Cochrane.
This response consists of programs designed to help participants learn how to source, choose and prepare healthy food more affordably. To this end, the organization runs a communal kitchen where participants receive cooking lessons from trained volunteers, almost half of which are also program participants.
The organization also runs a greenhouse, a beehive, a hydroponic system and two garden plots, where participants can attend workshops and sharpen their gardening skills. “They [participants] are growing for themselves and others and learning a lot of gardening skills,” said Cochrane.
This body of programs has recently grown with the addition of Grow-a-Row, a program that encourages local gardeners to donate the produce from one row of their gardens towards the organization. Cochrane said the project has just started and anyone interested in registering can email info@shelbournecommunitykitchen.ca to learn more and sign up.
These various aspects of the Shelbourne Community Kitchen underscore its departure from the traditional food bank model. In addition to providing nourishment, the Shelbourne Community Kitchen also sees itself as a learning institution where participants develop resilience and a sense of empowerment, said Cochrane.
“What also helps is that people don’t do it in isolation,” she said.
People learn from trained volunteers, but also from each other, said Cochrane.
“The social aspect is very important,” she said. “That camaraderie helps people build supportive networks, on which they can draw outside our programming.”
Ultimately, these ties extend far beyond the community kitchen, said Cochrane.
“The connections program participants make with others [in the neighbourhood] strengthen their sense of community.”