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FoodShare
Q&A with Debbie Field, Executive Director
Toronto-based Food Share has been working on food and hunger issues for 22 years. Their award winning grassroots projects promote healthy eating, teach food preparation and cultivation, develop community capacity and create non-market based forms of food distribution.
Executive Director Debbie Field is a recognized leader in the world of food security and has been instrumental in the growth of more than 400 student nutrition programs in Toronto.
Tell us the story of the Sunshine Garden.
The Sunshine Garden is a 7,000 sq. ft. urban market garden on the grounds of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Toronto (CAMH). It is a community-driven project with the goal to bring both skills and confidence to patients at the hospital. It won the Green Toronto Award in 2005. But the funding stopped and we almost had to stop digging. Tides Canada and The Funding Network Toronto came through with over $14,000 to keep the garden going. Now the hospital funds the garden.
When do you know the hard work is worth it?
I heard a story about a patient who works in the garden who said his blood pressure had gone down and hadn’t needed to see to his doctor in months. Then he added, “You’ll be proud of me, I’ve only been to McDonald’s once this week instead of three.”
Where do the vegetables grown in the garden go?
They are sold at the growers market. Go to www.foodshare.net to find out how to buy them.
What are you working on at the moment? We’re trying to change the curriculum of schools to include food literacy as a part of the formal education system in Canada.
