Food insecurity
The Ottawa Food Bank says food insecurity “ranges in severity from being worried about running out of food, to not being able to afford a balanced diet, to going hungry.”
The food bank says this crisis disproportionately impacts lone parents, single individuals, persons with disabilities, and Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) communities. And as food prices continue to rise, more families are turning to food banks for support. The growing need is not sustainable.
We believe that access to healthy food is a right, not a privilege and together, through community gardening, partnerships, and volunteer support, we can make a difference. So throughout the growing season, food from our front-yard garden, Our Lady of Peace Catholic School garden and our Maple Hill Allotment garden is harvested and delivered to the food bank’s dedicated volunteers weekly.
FAMSAC Food Cupboard
The FAMSAC Food Cupboard serves Bells Corners and the surrounding communities at Bayshore, Crystal Beach, Craig Henry, Manordale, and Trend Village. Our BCCG team is inspired to support FAMSAC by growing and donating fresh vegetables to families in need in our community. This is a wonderful example of working together to fulfill FAMSAC’s motto, “Neighbours helping neighbours!”
Since 2022, Team BCCG has proudly donated 1,5850 pounds of fresh vegetables to FAMSAC, ensuring that families in need have access to healthy, homegrown produce. In 2022, we donated 150 pounds. In 2023, we gave 250 pounds. In 2024 and 2025, with three different garden locations for growing food, we donated 870 and 315 pounds of vegetables respectively.
Are you growing vegetables you’re willing to donate to FAMSAC, especially if you live in Bells Corners? Reach out, we’d love to share how we did it!
Locally grown, community shared
Each year, our goal is to grow more food and give back in bigger ways. This year, along with donations to FAMSAC Food Cupboard, we expanded our reach by sharing our fresh produce with seven additional food banks:
We even made a special delivery of radishes to the Stittsville Food Bank! In addition, some gardeners, like Ali (left), generously shared their own harvests with our BCCG team to support food bank donations.
In total this growing season, the eight food banks received 2,200 pounds of fresh vegetables! This includes basil, Bok choy, beans, cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, eggplant, lettuce, peppers, radishes, Swiss chard, tomatoes, and zucchini.
Learn more about our BCCG garden initiatives, and if you have a thriving green thumb and the bandwidth to help, please join us to grow and donate fresh vegetables to community members in need.
Donating the fruits of our labour
—Jeremy LeBlanc, FAMSAC Food Cupboard
“FAMSAC has long relied on community support to provide emergency food assistance to those within our community who are struggling. With the rising cost of food, it is great to have the ability to offer our clients fresh, local produce, on top of the non-perishables which we provide.”
