Open Kitchen
Fredericton Community Kitchens serves up solutions to food insecurity seven days a week.
This past December, Fredericton Community Kitchens marked its 40th anniversary—a milestone that was bittersweet for the non-profit’s executive director, Cassandra LeBlanc. “What started as an emergency response to growing homelessness and food insecurity is becoming an integrated part of the lives of those living close to the poverty line,” says LeBlanc.
It was in 1982, at Christmastime, when a group of citizens, concerned about the increasing number of people going hungry in their city, got together to serve a hot lunch for those in need and Fredericton Community Kitchens was born. Now, 41 years later, the organization serves up free meals daily—three on weekdays, two on weekends. Dinner has been on offer since 2000, and breakfast since 2006. In 2011 it went mobile, and three years later a school lunch program was added.
More recently, Everyone Eats New Brunswick was launched—a pilot school-meal initiative funded by the New Brunswick Department of Education and Early Child Development. It lets parents order a nutritious lunch for their children online or at their school for a set fee of $5 or choose the pay-what-you-can option.
The beauty of [the program] is that it is equitable,” LeBlanc points out.
Cassandra LeBlanc, Executive Director,
The result, besides healthy meals made accessible to everyone, is less bullying among the schoolchildren.
“Many of us on the team have personal experience of what food insecurity is like,” notes LeBlanc. What New Brunswick Community Kitchens offers is a stigma-free, fair and welcoming environment. That said, the non-profit organization leans heavily on the Fredericton community, with most of its funding coming from donations. It also partners with local social service agencies to keep community fridges and food boxes stocked.
Many of us on the team have personal experience of what food insecurity is like.
Cassandra LeBlanc, Executive Director,
“We should all be amazed at the resilience of those in need,” she says. This, according to LeBlanc, is what drives her commitment to help people while we seek solutions for the bigger issues—how to make the system work better to alleviate poverty, food insecurity and homelessness. “Food is a human right,” says LeBlanc. “We should all have access to it and not feel bad about asking for it.”
Fredericton Community Kitchens takes donations of food and funds alike and also welcomes volunteers.
