Media: BCAFM In The News :: Gov't money for families to shop at markets
The Tri-City News, Page 0005, 15-Jun-2008
Gov't money for families to shop at markets
The province has provided $750,000 to the BC Association of Farmers' Markets to expand the Farmers' Market Nutrition and Coupon Project, benefiting 50 Coquitlam families.
Province-wide the program will give about 2,000 low-income B.C. families, including 2,500 children, better access to local, nutritious food over the next two years.
The innovative 17 week project — the first of its kind in Canada — will provide $15 per week in coupons to low-income families that will be used to buy any of the fresh produce, herbs, meats, eggs or other local unprepared foods typically found at farmers markets, such as the one held each Sunday in Coquitlam. Eligible families will be identified by a non-profit organization in each community and coupons will be distributed on a weekly basis.
The Coquitlam Farmers Market will also work with participating low-income families to develop knowledge and skill in the preparation of healthy, nutritious meals using fresh food.
"We are very excited to be chosen to participate in this program again this year," Tabitha McLoughlin, Coquitlam Farmers Market manager, said in a press release. "Farmers markets are a gathering place for the community to connect to each other, to know the person who grew or prepared the food they will consume, and a place for education and awareness. This program enhances our efforts to bring awareness to Coquitlam and the wider Tri-Cities community on the integral part that farmers' markets play in the development and sustainability of our local food systems."
The Coquitlam Farmers Market is located in the Dogwood Pavilion parking lot, 624 Poirier St., and runs every Sunday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The BC Association of Farmers' Markets is delivering the Farmers' Market Nutrition and Coupon Project in 10 communities in 2008 — expanding to 20 communities in 2009. The association was founded in 2000 to promote networking and communication between farmers' markets in British Columbia.