Rotary Club of Sudbury teamed up with Second Harvest and others to organize potato delivery
Sudbury, Ontario could have been called Spudbury for a few hours on Friday when a truckload of Prince Edward Island potatoes arrived in the city.
The delivery of the spuds was thanks to the Rotary Club of Sudbury with the support from the Government of Canada and Second Harvest, who all teamed up to “Serve to Change Lives” with PEI potatoes.
Rotary Clubs in Sudbury and other Northern communities took on the project, said a Rotary news release, to help one of many struggling family potato farms in PEI and make a difference for those tackling food insecurity, poverty and hunger in the North.
“PEI potato farmers have been paralyzed by an export ban on their fresh products since the end of November. Millions of pounds of potatoes were slated for disposal by the end of February. This presented an opportunity to connect people and communities at both ends of this unfortunate situation – the family farm producing the potatoes and those facing food insecurity,” said Rotary.
The club said many hands came together to help out and make the logistics work so that a truckload of 22,000 pounds of potatoes — 2,200 10-pound bags — could be delivered to Rainbow Concrete Industries at 2477 Maley Drive.
This enabled the Rotarians to distribute the spuds to food banks, church groups, First Nations, and other food support programs throughout the Sudbury area. Rotary said the recipients included the Sudbury Food Bank, the Salvation Army and Atikameksheng Anishinabek First Nation.
