About UsWho is the Cranbrook Food Action Committee? We are people in the community who identify food insecurity as an important health issue in Cranbrook. We believe there is a need for food security initiatives. We are comprised of a small steering committee and a larger network of supportive individuals and organizations. The steering committee is a committed group of individuals and organization representatives including Better Babies, Interior Health Community Nutritionist, Community Action Program for Children, Wildsight and the Canadian Cancer Society. What is our vision? Our vision is to have all residents of Cranbrook involved and well-informed on the value and need of a healthy, sustainable, local food supply that is respectfully accessible, safe, healthy and available to all. We value the collective spirit that is community, the unique skills and assets of each committee member, food as a core of community, and a shared responsibility to take care of and nurture the land, which in turn provides food for the people. What have been doing since we started? 2005 We launched the Cranbrook Community Kitchens initiative at the Salvation Army with the help of a grant from the BC Healthy Living Alliance. 2005-2006 We developed the Traveling Community Kitchens Kit, using a grant from Interior Health's mini-grant initiative, Community Action for Health. We developed a community garden project located at Better Babies for their clients Collaborated with the Salvation Army
on a variety of food projects, including a low-cost
food store and a Good Food Box program. 2006 We received Community Food Action Initiative funding to organize the
community’s first food security forum –
“Working Together: Food Security in Cranbrook.” This was followed by
subsequent planning sessions. 2007 We received a grant from the Public Health Agency of Canada’s Diabetes Strategy to complete Cranbrook Food Security and Physical Activity Assessment mapping project, which is complete. We received a Community Food Action Initiative Grant to hire a coordinator to work with us on community education and raising public awareness. As part of this work, the Coordinator organized two community Food Film nights and three Gardening Workshops held at the Public Library 2008 The Cranbrook Food Action Committee was invited to be one of five Implementation Partners for Interior Health’s ‘Building Community Food Security through Bits and Bytes’ project. For this initiative, the CFAC hired a project coordinator to gather information and build relationships to lay the groundwork for a local farmers’ market. This work was very ‘fruitful.’ CFAC assisted the interested stakeholders in applying for Columbia Basin Trust funds which has supported the formation of a Cranbrook Farmers’ Market Society. The Society had a tremendously successful Cranbrook Farmer’s Market inaugural season in 2009 and 2010 and the CFAC is pleased to support their ongoing work in our community. 2009 The Cranbrook Food Action Committee received a Community Food Action Initiative Grant to host ‘Connecting the Dots: the Results of the Cranbrook Food Security and Physical Activity Assessment.” 2010 We did not receive any grants this year and so the Cranbrook Food Action Committee is overseen solely by volunteers.
|
 |
