Mobile Food Store

River Bank worked with Smart Families to develop a mobile food store to better serve the needs of Prince Albert residents who struggle with high food costs and budgeting. The store, modeled after a similar program in Regina, offers healthy food choices and recipes at the Bernice Sayese Centre. Delivery service will be available in the near future.

The mobile food store would work in cooperation with the Smart Families Food Co-op, the Bernice Sayese Centre, the Prince Albert Food Coalition and other local organizations.

Smart Families Food Co-op

Habitat ReStore Building Front
The more boxes purchased means more food for everyone! The Smart Families Food Co-op is one community-based program RBDC strongly supports. The non-profit Food Co-op uses bulk purchasing to offer boxes of healthy food at more affordable prices to those in the community. Each box contains a number of fresh fruits and vegetables, along with recipes and nutritional information, and is available to anyone in the community who wishes to buy one, regardless of their income level or location.

The Food Co-op has been in operation since 2001 and was launched, in part, by River Bank Development Corporation. The Food Co-op now operates independently from RBDC and is governed by its own board of directors. However, the two organizations still maintain a close relationship, with River Bank providing office space for a food box coordinator and assisting in the preparation of the food boxes.

Food Security

Food security is an important issue within the city of Prince Albert, as many individuals, children and families go without healthy and affordable food each day. Food insecurity is described as lacking the proper foods (fruits, vegetables and dairy products for example) for complete nutrition and overall good health. The reasons for this are varied and include a lack of transportation or access to a nearby grocery store, lack of funds and a lack of nutritional food information.

RBDC partnered with the Prince Albert Hunger Committee (now Food Coalition) to start the Food Co-op. Other initiatives RBDC has undertaken to promote food security include overseeing a number of collective kitchens in the city, including at the Bernice Sayese Centre, Cedar Brook Apartments and Westview School. Collective kitchens, run by lay food leaders, teach parents, seniors, children and others how to prepare simple and healthy home-cooked meals.

For more information about the Smart Families Food Co-op, go to www.pafoodbox.ca.

Smart Families Food Co-op Photo
Kin Enterprise Members come to volunteer pack the Food boxes.
Smart Families Food Co-op Photo
Every one even the coordinator for Smart Families gets involved with this hands on job, preparing the food boxes.