EAST HANTS: Less that 10 per cent of our diet comes from farms right here in the province—a number that Local Food NS wants to address. But not everyone has access to the grant.

In June, Local Food NS, a grassroots community organization, partnered with the Community Foundation of Nova Scotia (CFNS) to offer their first grant program. Five grants of $2,000 are available under the auspices of the Local Food Fund for community based organizations that promote healthy local food issues.

But the fund can only be accessed by organizations that are charitable, or associated with a charitable organization, something that Kennetcook’s Eco-Solidarity Association can’t access. In the past, the operation has made fresh produce available for low-income families. The small three person organization is not associated with a registered charity.

“It’s great that they’re trying to push local food,” said co-director Corrie Melanson, “but it does mean that some organizations can’t access these grants.”

CFNS Executive Director Allison Kouzovnikov said all a smaller groups could partner with a charitable organization that would support their efforts.

“They need to create a formal partnership,” she said, “but it’s not complicated.”

The scant availability of local food in the province revealed itself as more dire during Hurricane Juan.

“It was ridiculous,” she said. “There’s a problem when you’re relying on external factors and transport trucks can’t get in and out of the province. If it happened again for a longer period of time, all of the sudden shelves could be empty.”

Kids Action program is offered out of the Building Blocks family resource centre in Kennetcook. The program runs a community garden and provides fresh produce for eight local families. It also offers an early literacy program for parents and children called alphabet soup. It aims to get children thinking about growing their own gardens.

“It teaches kids early on that we need a variety of food in order to have a well-balanced diet,” said program coordinator Kim Burns. “Kids will be also more adventurous with food if they have a hand in preparing it.”

She said many of the families and children involved in their programs don’t have access to healthy food.

“A lot of families we work with are single parent, working poor, single income families,” said Burns. “Even though they get some relief from the food bank, it’s not food that they are choosing to eat sometimes.”

The main source of their funding is the Public Health Agency of Canada, but they can use any help they can get.

“If there are dollars there to support local in-season stuff,” she said, “it would be useful to a lot of the families that we support.”

The Local Food Fund is currently the only charitable funding source in the province right now. Kouzovnikov wants to partner with a local non-profit charity that would support their efforts to make sure grants are being used in the best possible way.

“It’s important we understand the value of that asset today and nurture it,” said Kouzovnikov. “If we do it well, it will grow and benefit our people.”

acano@enfieldweeklypress.com