Daily Bread Food Bank's Farmers Market

(Originally published to my Hope Still Lives Here Instagram page) 
The Daily Bread Food Bank partnered with TCHC to bring a Farmer's Market of fresh fruit and vegetables to a community in Scarborough. This is a great idea on so many levels.
First of all, there is no judgement. The food is the first thing residents of the community saw. In most food banks the first thing anyone sees is someone standing between them and a mountain of non-perishable canned goods.
Secondly, the kids that came down were treated to an eye level view of healthy sweetness. We all know that supermarkets are designed to sell junk food to the parents of children who wait not so patiently in the checkout line. The children are at eye level with {and often within arms reach of} the highly processed, can't pronounce the ingredients list, on those tiny fist sized, overpriced packages of refined sugar. The Farmer's Market set up by the Daily Bread Food Bank is the only place I would whole heartedly encourage a child to pick something to eat now or try later.
Finally, this concept reinforces a sense of community. Nowadays there seems to be a shift from big box supermarkets that feed everyone to supermarkets that specialize in different ethnicities. This Farmers Market fed EVERYONE regardless of age, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and ability. Most importantly this event was designed for those wishing they could sit in on the next level socio-economic class.
We need more events like this that bring us together not tear us apart. This event simply reinforces my utopian vision of what I believe is possible, not just in TCHC, but, all across this great city of ours. 
This event raises one question though that was voiced by Angela Cooke the Vice-President of Resident and Community Servcies at TCHC - If farmers can actually give away 13,000 pounds of top quality produce in one day then "What is the actual value of food?"