Please go to the new website for the AV Food Security Society at AVFood.ca
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The Alberni Valley Food Hub strives to build capacity and awareness about food, food lands, food skills, and food systems through collaborative effort to strengthen food security and food sovereignty in the Alberni-Clayoquot Region.
Food related projects of the Alberni Valley Food Hub include:
Food Security:
When all people, at all times, have access to nutritious, safe, personally acceptable and culturally appropriate foods, produced in ways that are environmentally sound and socially just.
The Alberni Valley Food Hub is a developing Food Hub in conjunction with Island Heath. The Food Hub is working to create partnerships and strengthen inter-agency collaboration to support initiatives and action towards greater food security in the Alberni-Clayoquot Region. Core functions of the hub are to build community awareness and knowledge about food and food systems, develop partnerships in the community and across the island and build capacity to increase food security.
Seed Distribution and Education
Each year at the Canada Day Parade on July 1st the Alberni Valley Transition Town Society has a float in the parade and 
distributes seeds to parade-goers. Then again at the Annual Fall Fair the first weekend in September, Transition Town Food Group members are out with information, gardening tips, farm materials, activities for children, and more.
West Coast Growers Guide
Building off of 
the Farm Directory, Alberni Valley Transition Town Society partnered with the Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District and the Alberni Valley Times (and then the AV News) to create the first ever West Coast Growers’ Guide in 2015. The guide provides a listing of local farms, markets, and agricultural businesses as well as giving gardening tips, water saving tactics, a planting calendar, and a map to help yo
u get around.
Some other projects of the Alberni Valley Food Hub include:
Grow Local
Grow Local is a collaborative initiative of local agriculture groups such as the Alberni Farmers’ Institute, The Alberni Valley Food Hub, and the Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District. The project encourages and assists local residents with backyard food production in the Alberni Valley. The program offers ‘Garden Starter Packs’ which support the community to grow food in their backyards, on their balconies or windowsills. The packs contain seeds, seedlings, soil, compost, and containers. Spring 2020, the Grow Local program offered over 200 garden starter packs along with informational organic gardening videos available on social media and the local ShawTV channel, and a emailed newsletter to support the growers throughout the season. This May 2021, Grow Local will offer vegetable container packs, in-ground packs, and potato packs. The seeds and seedlings are sourced primarily from local farms.
For more information visit @growlocalalbernivalley on Facebook or email GrowLocalACRD@gmail.com.
Food Rx Box Program
The Food Rx Box Program was innovative partnership between the Alberni Valley Food Hub, Island Health, the ACRD, and our local food producers designed to deliver a weekly box of nutritious food to individuals being discharged from West Coast General Hospital. Each box contained meat, seafood, dairy, seasonal vegetables, and grain products that were all produced and processed in Port Alberni. The program ran from September to December 2020.
School Gardens
Current project to garner official school board endorsement of school gardens throughout SD 70 in order to develop a more comprehensive school garden strategy for the region and hopefully build some more school gardens in the future!
Family Farm Day
Coordinated by Parks and Recreation and now the Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District, Family Farm Day is an opportunity for people of all ages to get out and visit some of the local farms. Many farms host activities for children, farm gate sales, and farm tours throughout the day. Stay tuned for the date of the annual event. Generally held in September.
To learn more or get involved with the Alberni Valley Food Hub visit @AlberniValleyFoodHub on Facebook or email avttsfoodhub@gmail.com.
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