'Everyone needs a little help once in a while': Pay-what-you-can food market opens in Kitchener

Food insecurity in Waterloo Region has reached an all-time high and so has the number of families accessing food-assistance programs.

That’s what sparked Community Healthcaring Kitchener-Waterloo to open its pay-what-you-can community food market.

The market launched Thursday at the organization’s 44 Francis Street South location in Kitchener.

“We want people to feel that they belong to a community,” explained Michelle Bucker, the health and wellness manager with Community Healthcaring K-W. “We want them to be able to take the food that they need and also contribute in a way that’s a little different than taking it from other food sources and other food-donation programs.”

Organizers add that the pay-what-you-can model ensures there aren’t any feelings of humiliation when accessing necessary food.

“There’s a ‘Food with Dignity’ program in Banff, Canada. When I was visiting there, I spoke with them and had a lot of questions,” Buckman explained. “They said there’s shame and guilt around having to access a food bank or a food program and this gives people the opportunity to do it in a dignified way.”

Despite being a big help to those experiencing food insecurity, volunteers stress that anyone is welcome to stop by the market.

“Maybe while walking by, because you live downtown, and you need potatoes for your dinner and you’re willing to come in and put a few dollars in the donation bin,” Buckman added. “We have families that come in, seniors, and we have a lot of different community programs here at Community Healthcaring through the dental program that we offer, the outreach team, our primary healthcare team and our health wellness team. So all of those individuals that access those programs, we would also love for them to have access to our pay-what-you-can market.”

Grace Taliaferro is one of the customers taking advantage of the nearby resource.

“I live across the street in a senior’s apartment and if it’s the afternoon, you walk by here and haven’t gotten any bread, you can come over. I tell all my neighbours to come over. We’re all seniors on low income and everyone needs a little help once in a while,” she said. “It’s important to me. It has brought up my confidence a little more. They give to us so I’d like to give back some of the knowledge that I have in cooking and different things.”

The market is currently open on Mondays and Thursdays but organizers hope to expand the service to five days a week as more donations are collected.

Donations needed

While excitement was in the air for the market’s opening Thursday, organizers are looking ahead at ways to ensure the program’s longevity.

All food within the market comes from community donations.

“We have pick-ups from different local business, as well as different chains within the region,” explained Buckman. “We are always looking for new donations. We’d love to speak to any small businesses that feel they’d like to contribute to our food donation program.”

She adds any restaurants or catering companies that have leftover food could also consider donating to the cause.

All monetary contributions are recycled back into the program to buy more food.

“We will go shopping at a market that has maybe a lot of sales on that week to buy more food,” Buckman said. “A big barrier to people’s budget is fresh vegetables and fresh fruits. So that is what we will often use the donations for, is to be able to put in a great big bag of apples or oranges. We want to bring healthy food to people and the donations really help us to do that.”