Meet Ola, North York Harvest’s Program Services Manager!

Ola oversees our organization’s programs, including our produce markets offered at our food access centres. FoodReach supplies the markets with fresh produce, sold to our communities at cost. Check out what Ola has to say about the impact of this initiative!

What is your favourite vegetable?
My favourite vegetable is avocado.

What produce is most popular among clients?
Right now, I would say corn. Last year, we sold a lot of corn, peaches, green leaf lettuce, mushrooms, and cucumbers.

Since the introduction of these markets, what type of trends have you noticed?

One thing I’ve noticed is that our community members enjoy the market and appreciate the fact we are offering them fresh food at a low price. When the market is done for the season, they tend to ask if we are bringing it back. For example, we just finished a program at our OFS location. We ran it for 12 weeks where clients get extra fresh produce every visit to the food bank, and they enjoyed that. However, because that was a grant-funded program, we couldn’t continue once the funding was spent. Our partner agency who is in charge of the grant is currently looking into more grants so we can do the program again.

Why is access to fresh produce important to our communities?
Firstly, it is important to them because it improves the quality of their life and well-being. After all, when you eat fresh food, it helps your health and food is essential for all of us. It’s something we have to eat to grow, to nurture our brain. Without food, we cannot function every day, so our community members must have access to fresh and affordable food.

What impact do you believe the produce markets has on local community members?
It’s a positive impact and I’ll give you an example. We give out $2 vouchers when we launch the markets, which allows clients to buy about two items. Some people didn’t know the market was coming so they didn’t prepare to bring money, but they were able to use the vouchers. For those who came with extra cash, they were able to buy 4-5 items for under $10. Our community members benefit even more from the low-cost produce market if it can be an ongoing program; I know they would really appreciate that!