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20 schools and child care services adopt an innovative fundraising approach : Over 1,500 local and organic baskets sold to fund projects

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Montreal, December 12, 2017 - Twenty schools and child care services in Montreal and Montérégie took part in the innovative Schools Take Root project last fall, selling local, organic vegetables to raise funds for their activities. This campaign was created in Montreal last year thanks to the collaboration of several partners via the Système alimentaire montréalais (SAM). This year saw the initiative expand to Montérégie.

In total, 1,530 baskets of local, organic vegetables were sold by six farms in Équiterre’s network of local family farmers (the 13,000 kg of local, organic vegetables sold brought in nearly $37,000 for these farmers). For their part, schools were able to raise an additional $9,000 to finance initiatives such as teaching gardens, cooking workshops, schoolyard makeover projects and educational activities and to procure teaching materials in schools and child care services in these two regions.

 See the inspiring deliveries in images on the Facebook album.

SCHOOLS TAKE ROOT PROJECT : A VIRTUOUS CIRCLE

In addition to raising funds for the participating establishments, this campaign generates positive results all-round :

  • Fundraising for schools and child care services
  • Raising of awareness among children and their families about the importance of
    healthy, local and sustainable food
  • Vegetables grown without pesticides and GMOs
  • Reduction of food miles and packaging
  • Support for the local economy and our farmers.

TESTIMONIALS

Participating parent, École Saint-Jean-de-Brébeuf, Montreal : “The very next day, my son insisted we make one of the recipes suggested by the farmer. My daughter wanted to use the Algonquin squash because it tied in with her history class.”

Participating parent, École Saint-Denis, Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu: “Great participation by the students during the delivery! They had prepared a healthy snack to welcome the parents and were making baskets! So much enthusiasm!”

Participating parent, Académie des Sacrés-Coeurs, St-Bruno-de-Montarville: “When my daughter saw the eggplants, she was thrilled! She also asked questions about the daikon.”

To see the list of participating schools and child care services

Schools Take Root, For Healthy, Local and Sustainable Food is an initiative of the Système alimentaire montréalais (SAM), coordinated and implemented jointly by Équiterre and the Commission scolaire de Montréal (CSDM – Montreal school board) in partnership with the Direction régionale de santé publique du Centre intégré universitaire de santé et de services sociaux du Centre-Sud-de-l'Île- de Montréal and the Direction régionale de la Montérégie of the Ministère de l’Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l’Alimentation du Québec. The project was made possible thanks to the support of the Ministère de l’Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l’Alimentation du Québec, as part of the Proximité program, funded under the Entente Canada-Québec Cultivons l’avenir 2. The project also received support from Québec en forme.

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For information or an interview with a school, family farmer or Équiterre :
Camille Gagné-Raynauld, relations médias Équiterre
514 605-2000, cgraynauld@equiterre.org