After months of outreach, business planning, and presentations, RAIN is one step closer to leading the Harvest Algoma program – a food resource hub located in central Sault Ste. Marie that plays an important role in alleviating food insecurity across the Algoma region. At a recent city council meeting, RAIN director David Thompson and Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre CEO Peter Bruijns presented the case for supporting this initiative to the mayor and council members. it was decided that the City of Sault Ste. Marie would contribute $60 000 per year for the next three years to aid in the operational expenses of the program, with Algoma Steel coming forward with another $40 000 per year for the next three years.
Harvest Algoma began as a program under the United Way of Sault Ste. Marie and Algoma District in 2018 as a food hub to serve food banks in the area as well as community agencies, with caseworkers supplying supplementary food boxes to a broad clientele base. RAIN’s goal is to continue to support these agencies, while establishing a social enterprise business model. The plan is to expand on Harvest’s capacity as a training and skills development centre as well as a hub to support agri-food entrepreneurs who wish to explore product development for their businesses.
Although the transaction isn’t final just yet, we expect financial commitments from other community agencies to come to fruition over the next few weeks so stay tuned for more updates.