A project in the Rock Creek area has already got plenty of momentum. That from Electoral Area E Director, Vicki Gee, who presented to Grand Forks city council last month requesting that a letter of support regarding a Food Hub grant be signed.
She says the project stemmed from the need for a Community Centre, which is already well underway in the Rock Creek area:
“Then three groups got together to create a Community Services Cooperative, which is a non-profit co-op, and the co-op has a 99 year lease on the property, and is well underway with building the first building -the community centre building….”
She adds this also comes from the Province wanting to determine if there are qualified respondents established to operate these hubs.
Gee, who is a member of the West Boundary Community Services Co-op Association, explains what a Food Hub really means.
“It’s about a building that will facilitate manufacturing of food, value-added manufacturing…. So as simple as cut and wrap, or more complex like smoking, having a sausage making line….”
She adds that Food Hubs are also to help educate farmers to produce, market, and transport food. If successful, the hub would share the Community Centre’s property.
Gee says the project affects a much larger area than just Rock Creek:
“The local abattoir cut and wrap operation in Rock Creek services an area quite a bit larger than the Boundary. They have animals being shipped here from Keremeos in the West, and as far away as Kelowna in the North, and all across the Boundary.”
The co-op is requesting support from all six political jurisdictions in the Boundary, and although Grand Forks city council voted in favor, the Food Hub is still dependant on grant funding.