Big Lakes County’s Family & Community Support Services (FCSS) has been awarded a $10,000 grant from the 2021 Second Harvest Emergency Food Security Fund. The purpose of this grant is to help strengthen food security in our communities and provide nutritious food to more Canadians.
“The pandemic has placed a heavy burden on the thousands of small non-profits across Canada trying to provide healthy food for people struggling with hunger in their communities,” said Lori Nikkel, CEO of Second Harvest. “We are not out of the woods yet and we need to keep these organizations well resourced so they can provide hope and stability to the people they serve.”
Big Lakes FCSS will use the funding they received from Second Harvest to install Community Food Cupboards in each of our hamlets: Enilda, Grouard, Joussard, Faust, and Kinuso. These Community Food Cupboards, stocked with non-perishable food items, will be available to anyone who needs it.
“With the COVID-19 pandemic, we know that accessing nutritious food has been a challenge, especially in northern communities like our own where local access can be difficult,” said Nicole Hanna, FCSS Manager at Big Lakes County.
This funding program is made possible by the Government of Canada’s Emergency Food Security Fund which was launched in April 2020 to support six national food organizations, including Second Harvest, to improve access to food for Canadians during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since it was launched in the opening months of the pandemic, the Emergency Food Security Fund has supported more than 5,000 local food initiatives across Canada.
To learn more about the Big Lakes County Community Food Cupboards and how you can support this service visit www.biglakescounty.ca/fcss