Maison Francine Leroux receives federal boost to make food more accessible in Drummondville

Dec 03, 2021

Drummondville, Quebec – Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada - This week, the Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, highlighted an investment of up to $78,338 to Maison Francine Leroux under the Local Food Infrastructure Fund’s second phase.

Established in 2020, Maison Francine Leroux is a non-profit organization that promotes intergenerational sharing through textile arts, reading and cooking in the community. The Maison Francine Leroux building contains three large rooms, including a collective kitchen, where community members of all ages can safely meet to socialize, share ideas, enjoy coffee or a meal together, and lessen the feeling of isolation.

The announcement supports the installation of a new kitchen space at Maison Francine Leroux. Additionally, this LFIF funding is supporting the purchase of new kitchen appliances and equipment (including dishwasher, stove, refrigerator, freezer and hood), as well as tables, chairs and countertop benches for the shared space. The project will enable a fully-functional collective kitchen to address food security needs of community members and provide opportunities to learn about food preparation and preservation.

The Local Food Infrastructure Fund (LFIF), originally a five-year, $50-million program under the Food Policy for Canada, is aimed at community-based, not-for-profit organizations. The mission of the program is to reduce food insecurity by establishing and/or strengthening local food systems in the medium to longer term. Additionally, Budget 2021 included a $10-million top-up for LFIF, which is supporting rapid-response grants to help prevent hunger through investments in infrastructure needs.

The application intake for the second phase of the program ended on February 12, 2021. This phase supports community-based, not-for-profit organizations to improve their food systems through investments in infrastructure that are directly related to addressing food insecurities and increasing the accessibility of healthy, nutritious and local foods within their community.

Source : canada

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