Rotary Club of Spruce Grove secures new federal funding

SPRUCE GROVE -- The Rotary Club of Spruce Grove's Community Partners Society has received $400,000 in federal funding.

The new funding comes as part of a grant from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, which will go towards bolstering the organization's Community Pantry. They say that this allows them to make two significant purchases -- a new delivery van and professional production kitchen equipment.

The Rotary Club notes that the state-of-the-art kitchen equipment, along with their eventual own location, will enable the Pantry to increase lunch production from 900 to 5,000 weekly school lunches within the next two years. This increased volume will also include a transition from the "brown bag" style lunches delivered currently to lunches that include warm soups and stews, fresh buns and breads, salads, and more.

"We understood that the National School Food program was allowing for funds to be dispersed to many different regions," said Rotarian Dianne Brown. "We knew we'd been recognized, but we certainly didn't realize that we'd be recognized to the tune of $400,000. This amount of money is going to help us realize our dream of meeting the needs of our community.

Beyond this first stage of growth, Brown says that the Pantry will also leverage the new production kitchen to teach children and youth how to make their own lunch and how to prepare meals at home. Students will have the opportunity to learn a variety of culinary techniques, such as knife skills, cooking methods, food safety, and sanitation practices, and will work with a wide range of ingredients and equipment. 

"What's most important for this is that the children in our school system are well fed all the time," said Brown. "I can't imagine what it would be like to be a child that has come to school without breakfast and without lunch, and standing on the outside of a room watching other children eat. So, we need to make sure all the children in our community are well fed.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada supports the Canadian agriculture and agri-food sector through initiatives that promote innovation and competitiveness.