Digby County food box program makes fresh produce affordable, accessible

Beth Costello spenther day on Friday travelling around the back roads of Digby County, N.S., filling her Chevy truck with carrots, potatoes and apples.

"I'm actually in Gilberts Cove,kind of half lost,but that's OK," she said, laughing.

The food will be used for the area's new Fresh Food Box program, which launches today.

The programaims to deliver affordable, fresh produce to residentsby dropping off the boxes at a handful of pickup points throughout the county every two weeks.

Costello said the goal is to make fresh food available to people who either can't usually afford it or people who have difficulty accessing it.

"There's one family out of every three that's not getting the proper food and proper nutrition that they need to get," she said. "That's not acceptable."

Costello said it can take up to two hours for residents onBrier Islandto drive to the nearest grocery store in Digby. Sincethey may only make that trip once or twice a month, they may not load up on fresh vegetables and fruit, thinking it will go bad before they get around to eating it or replenishing their supplies.

People who live alone, too, may not buy a $7 bag of apples at the store because they know they won't eat them all.

The fresh food box comes in two sizes and will contain just a few apples, potatoes, bananas, carrots and otheritems.

"We want to make sure that there'ssome kind of fruit and vegetables being brought to the house, even if it's enough just to do one meal of vegetables and fruit. That's one more meal that people are getting," Costello said.

Open to anyone

What may make the Fresh Food Box program different from similar programs is not only the prices the single bag costs $6, whilethe family bag costs $10 but that anyone can participate.

"I can buy one, you can buy one, Sally down the road can buy one. There's no stigma attached to this. It's not because,'Oh, did you see Sally? She's going to get the fresh food box.' No, Sally is there with the mayor. Everybody is getting it."

The food in the boxes comes from nearby farms and the Superstore in Digby. Fresh Food Box is a partnership with the Tri County Women's Centre, Conway Workshop, the Nova Scotia Health Authority and the Mobile Food Market.

Clients of the Conway Workshop Association, an organization that serves people with intellectual and physical disabilities, will help pack the boxes.

"It's a way of us giving back to the community,"says Jill Baxter, Conway's executive director. "We try to get them to understand it's not always about us.

"We come together and we do what we can to help people out."

The Fresh Food Box program is a pilot project that will run until October.