The Local Community Food Center launches $750,000 fundraising campaign

A well-known Stratford non-profit that focuses on tackling good insecurity has launched a new fundraising effort with the aim of collecting $750,000 by next summer.

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Officials with the Local Community Food Center launched the new “My Community Includes The Local” campaign this week due to a higher demand for services, the agency said in a release.

“High rates of inflation have contributed to growing food insecurity and financial stress for individuals and families living in Stratford and the surrounding communities,” stated the release, noting that food insecurity has increased 26 per cent across Canada in the past year.

The Local has seen a growing number of people shopping at its wholesale market and attending the weekly community meals, executive director Margaret Smart said.

“When I came a year ago, we were averaging between 80 and 100 people at a meal, and now we are averaging between 140 and 180 people at a meal,” Smart said in a Friday interview.

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“So the meal attendance has doubled, and also our market attendance has increased as well, so that we’re now over 100 shoppers most days that we have a market.”

In 2023, the Local served 13,800 meals to Stratford-area residents while distributing more than 700 bags of fruit to people living in nearby emergency shelters.

There are several reasons why the Local has seen this sharp increase, Smart said.

“There are people who have always been food insecure, (but) I think that there are more people who are experiencing that due to cost of living. I also think that, as people come here, they do have that feeling of community they get when they eat together. . . . They’re excited and happy to see people that they know from other places in their lives,” she said.

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One group of regular meal goers would previously go out for lunch together, but switched to The Local when the costs simply became too much, Smart said.

“So they realized. . . that they could come here and have lunch and put a donation in the box of what they could afford. They could still be together and their money could go to supporting a place that they really like. So it’s kind of one of the ways that these increasing costs are impacting people and their choices,” she added.

Along with establishing a reserve fund for the non-profit, the campaign is intended to support the Local’s wide range of programs and services, including the Monday community supper, the Friday community lunch, connection center meals, mobile food markets, and workshops on kitchen basics. The campaign will also help the Local replace its 10-year-old kitchen equipment, as well as update the facilities.

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The campaign has already garnered support from two local businesses — Shackleton’s Real Estate & Auction Co. and KDB Law. Each company has donated $50,000, providing a solid foundation for the campaign. While Smart acknowledged the $750,000 goal is lofty, she said she was confident The Local would get there.

“I look around at Stratford, and I think we have this incredibly generous community, and that is one of the things that I’ve recognized over this past year. . . . I’ve seen the way that Stratford residents support the things that really matter to them. . . and I really feel like the community wants The Local to be here,” she said.

“People value what we do.”

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