New truck brings food to First Nation’s table

The acquisition of a truck will allow the Tsartlip First Nations to improve the delivery of crucial food-security programs and services to members of the community.

A $40,000 grant from the Victoria Foundation has allowed the Brentwood Bay-based First Nations to acquire the vehicle to support traditional food practices and healthy eating.

The truck, with a removable canopy in the box, will be used by the 800-member tribe in a number of roles.

“The purchase of the truck fills a gap in our social programs and food-security needs,” said Mary Hayes, Headstart coordinator for the Tsartlip First Nations.

“We will use it to pick up food from the Food Rescue Project and the Mustard Seed Church’s Food Security Distribution Centre warehouse.”

The Food Rescue Project collects more than 2,000 kilograms of fresh food daily from six area grocery stores and redistributes it to 50 organizations, including the Tsartlip First Nations.

Hayes had been using her own vehicle, a small hatchback, as a stop-gap measure to transport hundreds of pounds of donated food a week for the community.

The larger cargo volume means they will be able to reduce the number of trips to transport the donations — and be able to accept larger donations in the future.

The truck will work with initiatives connected with the tribe’s Headstart program — including a community kitchen, a community teaching garden, Good Food Box program and Fresh Food to You program.

After collecting the food, the truck will be pressed into service with the tribe’s fooddelivery program. The program calls on 30 to 40 households in the tribe, delivering essential food two times a month.

In the summer, the truck will find use in the tribe’s gardening programming, transporting dirt, plants and supplies for the community garden plots, hauling away garden waste and transporting the communal rototiller to different households.

Having the use of a truck will allow the community to more easily grow its own food and improve food security, said Hayes.