What is Urban Pantry?

In 2016, two community food programs partnered under a Seed grant to form the Urban Pantry Project, a partnership of FruitShare Barrie and Barrie Good Food Box. The project was to improve access to high-quality foods and opportunities to enhance daily living skills such as food preparation. During the life of the Seed grant, the Good Food Box launched online ordering and food skills workshops. FruitShare expanded its operation from harvesting fruit to planting fruit trees in public parks and schools.

In 2017 Urban Pantry held the Let's Get Growing event at Georgian College, which brought together stakeholders of the local food system, for a half-day workshop on urban agriculture in Barrie. From that event Urban Pantry grew into a larger coalition of food advocates. Volunteers launched into action and successfully applied for a Grow grant through the Ontario Trillium Foundation, with the Canadian Mental Health Association as their lead organization.

Over the next three years, Urban Pantry will deliver urban agriculture and food skills programming in Barrie, including community gardens, food skills workshops, food handler certification training, and expansion of the Barrie Good Food Box program. The flagship garden will be a youth & wellness garden at the CMHA Simcoe County branch.

The Urban Pantry team is excited to launch community food programming in summer 2018!