Soup's on, thanks to county-United Way partnership

By Cecilia Nasmith

Northumberland County is pleased to be a partner in the distribution of 18,000 servings of hearty home-made soups to local food banks, school nutrition programs and community service organizations

The soup was produced at Colborne's Ontario Agri-Food Venture Centre, and will be distributed from Cobourg through the county's Food 4 All Warehouse. And the initiative was made possible by funding from Northumberland United Way’s COVID-19 Emergency Community Support Fund.

“COVID-19 has heightened food insecurity for vulnerable populations,” Northumberland Director of Economic Development Planning and Strategy Initiatives Dan Borowec stated in the press release.

“As a manufacturing hub supporting agriculture and agri-food entrepreneurs, the OAFVC is ideally positioned to act swiftly with this investment from the Northumberland United Way, to produce nutritious meals that will enhance food security in our community.

“We are pleased to be working with the Food 4 All team to quickly get this locally-produced product into the hands of our community members most in need.”

The $25,000 in funding supported production costs for this undertaking, including packaging and ingredients. Three different soups – butternut squash, tomato basil, and potato leek – are now in production at the OAFVC.

“We are pleased to leverage the OAFVC equipment and the talents of the team for such an important cause,” OAFVC Manager Trissia Mellor added.

“We thank the Northumberland United Way for the funding to make this possible.”

Soups will be packaged fresh-to-frozen and distributed through the Food 4 All beginning mid-December.

For more information about the OAFVC, visit oafvc.ca.

For more information about the Food 4 All warehouse visit Northumberland.ca/Food4All.