16,500 lbs of produce diverted from farmers’ market to those in need

The Good Greens Reclamation Program has marked a milestone as they continue saving food in the community.

A program that ensures unsold food from the stalls of the Downtown Windsor Farmers’ Market reaches those battling food insecurity has reached a milestone on Saturday.

The Good Greens Food Reclamation Program marked 50 weeks of diverting food to serve more than 19,000 meals.

When the market closes each Saturday afternoon, the work intensifies for volunteers, who work with each vendor to determine how much food they can allocate to the program.

“So the BIA started this initiative to help the vendors to not take back the excess food they have,” said Faisal Alkheami, who supervises the program’s volunteers.

“So our goals are to reduce food waste to help the people in need.”

From there, a team of volunteers helps package and distribute the food to seven shelters, food banks and frontline stakeholders.

Through sponsorships and donations, the program pays vendors for the food they provide.

To date, the program has helped move more than 16,500 pounds of produce, 5,200 baked goods and 47 litres of preserves to those in need.

“Honestly, we have some great vendors, like almost all of them will always give us more than what we [pay for],” Alkheami said.

He noted the program has relied on about 40 volunteers to continue the work.

Introduced in 2023, the program was started as a pilot program, but has become a staple.

It’s a first of its kind in Ontario, said Debi Croucher, but they’re hoping other communities will consider the approach.

“We did actually did a presentation to other farmers’ markets in the hopes that some of the other cities that have the capacity to do so could replicate this program and benefit their communities as well,” said the executive director of the Downtown Windsor BIA.

Between the hospitality sector, farmers and restaurants, Croucher added that there could be room to grow the program in future.

For now, the Good Greens Food Reclamation Program will continue to operate at the farmers market every Saturday.