With grocery prices continually on the rise, more area residents are signing up for a local bulk-buying program that gets them a large bag of fruit and vegetables for only $15 a month.
Community Food Smart volunteers packed 120 bags of produce in Tantramar this month. Organizer Max Ducharme said the program had been averaging about 80 to 90 bags a month before this month’s jump to 120. He estimates each bag contains between $30 and $40 worth of produce.
Members order once a month, pooling their money so produce can be purchased in bulk from Fresh Choice, a wholesale distributor in Hanwell.
“The more people who participate, the better deal we can get,” Ducharme said.
The $15 collected for each bag goes toward the produce itself. There is no additional subsidy covering the food, giving the program $1,800 to spend on this month’s 120 orders.
New members also pay a $10 one-time membership fee. Ducharme said the fee pays for things outside of the produce order, including extra reusable bags, printing and bank fees.
Each month, Fresh Choice sends Ducharme its available produce and prices. He uses the money collected from that month’s orders to decide what goes into the bags while trying to give members some variety.
“No one wants a bag of potatoes every month,” he said. “If you’re a single person or a couple, it’s hard to eat a full bag of potatoes.”
Apples, oranges, bananas and potatoes are some of the regular items Ducharme works with. Other months have brought pineapple, berries, garlic and other items, depending on what is available and what he can fit into the order. Ducharme said Fresh Choice gets much of its produce from Canada, particularly the Maritimes, along with some from the United States and overseas.
Ducharme recalled several months when Fresh Choice warned organizers that prices would make it difficult to put together the usual bag. Sometimes that meant buying more vegetables and less fruit.
This month’s bags included two pounds of grapes that Ducharme said cost about $3.50 through the wholesale order. He had seen the same amount selling for about $8 at a grocery store in Sackville.
Ducharme believes grocery prices have encouraged more people to give Community Food Smart a try. He has seen participation at this level before, with 100 to 150 bags packed each month when he started volunteering about four years ago.
Shirley Ann Mowforth has been getting the bags for about a year. She came to pick up this month’s order after first hearing about the program from a friend.
“It helps me a lot,” Mowforth said. “It’s an excellent deal, and it goes very far.”
She said one bag can last between a week and a half and two weeks.
“Prices are great and the food’s great.”
Ducharme said members include people who use food banks and others who are financially comfortable.
“This program is for everybody,” he said.
Bags are distributed in Sackville, Dorchester and Port Elgin, as well as through the Mount Allison Students’ Union. Some members also pick up at Church by the Lake in Sackville, where volunteers sort the produce and fill orders.
Running Community Food Smart is part of Ducharme’s work as a community developer with Horizon Health Network for Tantramar and Strait Shores. Some of the volunteers who pack and distribute the bags have been with the program longer than he has.
“We could not do this program without volunteers,” Ducharme said.
Community Food Smart began locally about a decade ago through partnerships that included the Sackville Commons, local schools, the Mount Allison Students’ Union and Fresh Choice.
Ducharme first joined as a volunteer. About a year and a half to two years ago, as the Commons went through changes and could no longer administer the program, he was asked to take it over.
“If you don’t take it over, then it’s gonna end,” Ducharme was told.
“Well, that’s not happening,” Ducharme recalled responding.
Ducharme is also part of the Food Security Action Group for Tantramar and Strait Shores, which brings together local food banks, schools and other organizations. He said food banks represented in the group have been reporting growing numbers, and some people supplement their food-bank use with Community Food Smart. Bags that go unclaimed without prior arrangements are donated to the PEDVAC food bank in Port Elgin.
“It’s nice to be able to provide a tiny little solution,” he said, “or at least a little bit of a symptom fix.”
Theodore Ramharack holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Western University and a diploma in Broadcast Journalism. He recently completed an internship with CBC News’ The National.
Originally from Ontario, he moved to Sackville to join CHMA as a local journalist and is excited to get to know the Tantramar region and share stories from the community.
