Do you believe everyone should have access to fresh foods? Do you want to support neighbours who face barriers to accessing healthy, culturally appropriate, and locally-grown food? Join CNH’s Mutual Aid CSA!
What is a CSA?
Community-supported agriculture (CSA) programs are direct relationships between farmers and community members that involve a subscription to a farm’s harvests. They are an alternative socioeconomic model of agriculture and food distribution whose overarching goal is to create a sense of community through local markets, quite different from shopping at big box grocery stores.
Your membership to CNH’s Mutual Aid CSA will support the Tsawwassen First Nation Farm School (TFNFS), an integrated vegetable and livestock farm that centers regenerative agriculture and Indigenous food systems perspectives and is managed in partnership between Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPN) and the Tsawwassen First Nation. Through this CSA program, you’ll be receiving 8 weeks of fresh, local produce delivered directly from the farm school to Collingwood Neighbourhood House. You will also be subsidizing a box for a low-income community member!
How our program works
When you sign up, you will receive a box of fresh locally grown vegetables, and so will a family in the neighbourhood who is unable to afford healthy food options.
Not interested in joining but still want to support a low-income neighbour to access fresh foods? You can make a donation to the program. 100% of these funds will go towards subsidizing a CSA for a neighbour in Renfrew Collingwood.
What is Mutual Aid?
Mutual aid systems involve cooperative networks of care between people in a community and involve the core principle that everyone has something to contribute as well as something they need. Mutual aid systems are long-term and grassroots responses to a common struggle and ultimately work toward justice and equity for all.
What is in our CSA
We will be working with the farmers at The Tsawwassen First Nation Farm School (TFNFS) to include a variety of fresh produce in your CSA box. The exact types of produce will vary according to the seasons and harvesting environment but we are working to focus on providing culturally appropriate vegetables that will be familiar to residents of Renfrew-Collingwood. See the graphic below for some of the produce TFNFS has been growing:
Membership details
Members pick up their CSA weekly on Friday evenings between 5–7pm at Collingwood Neighbourhood House (CNH). CNH is conveniently located 2 blocks away from the Joyce Skytrain station and includes parking access, wheelchair accessible front entrance, and elevator from the underground parking.
Our first pilot season is expected to run from September 10 to October 29, 2021 for a total of 8 weeks.
Stay connected as we will be working to run a second season for the 2022 growing season.
Payment options
Option 1
Buy your own box and subsidize a box for a neighbour
Pay $45/week for 8 weeks = $360 total
Option 2
Suggested donation $30 to buy a box for a neighbour
Who is eligible to receive a subsidized CSA?
Subsidized CSA boxes are intended to support community members facing food insecurity to access healthy, culturally appropriate, and locally harvested produce. In general, CSA subsidy recipients are referred to the program through a CNH program or service.
Subsidized CSA cost $20/month = $40 total
Specific criteria are as follows:
- Are interested in receiving and utilizing fresh produce weekly
- Lives in the Renfrew-Collingwood neighbourhood
- Experiences food insecurity
- Referred to the program through a CNH service (ie. Settlement Services, RISE, Seniors Services)