When Councillor Tony Mancini paired up with Square Roots to offer Darmouthians free boxes of vegetables in 2020, they were serving about 40 families.
Now, they serve over 200 households.
The councillor for Harbourview-Burnside-Dartmouth East says he’s seen food insecurity in his neighborhood increase since the onset of the pandemic.
“Even $10 or $5 is a lot of money for some families right now,” Mancini said in an interview. “And for a lot of families, this fresh produce may be the only produce they’re getting.”
Tony Mancini has been helping deliver low-cost fresh produce for people in his district since before the pandemic. But when the Mobile Food Market, who they previously sold boxes through, lost their location during COVID lockdowns, he partnered with Saint Mary’s University group Square Roots.
Square Roots also offers local produce at a low-cost, however Mancini and fellow Dartmouth councillors Becky Kent and Sam Austin have all been able to pitch a bit of tax revenue to subsidize the boxes and keep them free to people in need.
“[we] started off with 40 families [receiving produce boxes] every two weeks; now, we’re well over 200 families every two weeks.”
What began as an initiative to offer free produce to people in Mancini’s district soon expanded to include East Dartmouth, Downtown Dartmouth, Eastern Passage, Dartmouth North, Shubie Park, Montebello and Port Wallace.
More volunteers needed
There are concerns, though.
With people away vacationing in the summer months, and the sky-rocketing price of gas, Mancini says it can be difficult to recruit volunteers.
“The challenge we’re having now is getting volunteers to deliver.”
Delivery volunteers typically spend a few hours on Saturdays doing deliveries throughout Dartmouth.
We are in need of volunteer drivers to deliver free fresh produce in Dartmouth on Saturday morning. If you want to volunteer to deliver the fresh produce on Saturday morning sign up by following the link:
Volunteer Sign-ups: https://t.co/p1Iwa3feKd pic.twitter.com/BaSg2UftSh— Councillor Tony Mancini (@TonyMancini_NS) May 25, 2022
“I was away last time and they ended up canceling the delivery because they didn’t have enough volunteers.”
On some occasions, firefighters are able to step in and fill the need, he says.
Mancini is concerned that with volunteers in short supply, and the need for fresh produce increasing, people will start to burn out.
“The sad part is, the need is growing,” he says. “Does that mean we’re going to be at 300? 400? Possibly.”
Mancini invites anyone interested in becoming a volunteer or receiving a produce box to sign up online.
