A busy future for the organization supporting many local food banks.
Regional Food Distribution Association Director Volker Kromm will tell Council tonight how they plan to grow into a service hub.
“And it’s probably going to be working with communities and health centres. We have a great partnership in Ignace, for example, where we are the food piece, but we do gardening, we do health promotion [and] prevention.”
The RFDA official says they will work with other groups to lift up people who are disadvantaged.
Kromm indicates that while the RFDA’s work has grown and become more complex in the last decade, he feels food banks are not the whole answer for people in poverty.
He notes they need to co-operate with other groups because they are competing over a relatively small amount of funding.
Kromm says they aren’t asking the city for funding right now, but they will try to partner with the various organizations the city supports.
“And I don’t know how that will shake out, because with the current provincial government [cuts], it’s getting tough out there for us. At the same time, we’re just investing in leasing a $150,000 truck. We’re going to be crippled if we can’t work together.”
He adds discussions with the Regional Hospital brought up the possibility of RFDA workers meeting with out-of-town patients when they come to the hospital, noting many don’t have reliable access to food.
