Charity produces record amounts of non-perishable food amidst rise in food insecurity

Tina Quiring, Board Chair and Treasurer of Southwestern Ontario Gleaners, seen with a bag of dehydrated vegetable mix in Windsor, Ont. on Nov. 23, 2024. (Robert Lothian/CTV News Windsor)

A Windsor-Essex charitable organization created a record amount of non-perishable food amidst an increase in food insecurity, both at home and abroad.

Southwestern Ontario Gleaners, located in Leamington, Ont., uses non-marketable produce from farms in the region to create a dried vegetable soup mix.

Tina Quiring, the Board Chair and Treasurer of SWO Gleaners said, as of October, they’ve distributed a record five million servings in 2024.

“We keep food out of our landfills. Perfectly edible food, nothing wrong with it, it may not look right, but it still has all the nutritional value of any food,” Quiring said.

Quiring said they receive unmarketable produce “by the truckload,” inspect and clean it, before dicing and dehydrating it. Their goal is to divert goods from the landfill while fighting food insecurity.

Traditionally, the vast majority of the mix has been bagged and transported overseas to Africa, Central America and more recently Ukraine.

However, Quiring said this year the Gleaners noticed more local distribution than ever before.

“So, over a million servings stayed right here in the surrounding area, whereas before it used to be less than five per cent,” she said.

“But now, because of the needs in the area, there's more and more people needing food.”

Due to the financial struggle for some in the region, Quiring expects the need for their work will continue to grow.

“So, we will need to do more here as well, locally, and that's why it's urgent, like absolutely urgent, that we harvest what we throw away because it will last a very long time when it's dehydrated to the point where it doesn't mold,” she said.

High levels of production came on the back of a record number of volunteers contributing to the efforts, Quiring said.

As the need for food and growth in non-marketable products continue to rise, she said they’re hoping the community will help their efforts to meet the demand.

“There's so much product that we cannot take because we do not have the space,” Quiring added.

“We get offered a semi load of frozen product, we have to say, ‘we can’t take it,’ and they know it’s going to get outdated, and we know it’s going to go into the ground.”

“But if we had freezer space, we could say ‘bring it on’.”

While the challenges appear significant, Quiring said she remains optimistic they can make a change to benefit communities in Southwestern Ontario and across the world.

“So, I just would like to call on everybody, like the businesses, schools, churches, neighbours and farmers, let’s work together and put an end to hunger.”