Quiring, Nature Fresh honoured by Windsor Downtown Mission

LEAMINGTON — The team from the Downtown Windsor Mission was in Leamington on Monday, October 26 to present Peter Quiring, President and CEO of Nature Fresh Farms and South Essex Fabricating, with a recognition award to express its appreciation.

“Nature Fresh has long been a great supporter of the Downtown Mission,” said Mission Executive Director Ron Dunn. “We are so grateful for all that they have done over the years.”

When the Mission began in 1972, they were feeding about 28 men a week, who would come in for free coffee and day old donuts. Today, they are helping over 1100 people, and much of that help is done through donors such as Nature Fresh.

“We have an amazing team of volunteers,” said Dunn. “And we remain largely unfunded by all three levels of government.”

They have collected and redistributed a million-and-a-half pounds of produce in 2020 and that produce is shared with food banks, shelters and schools across the region. Over 67,000 pounds of that produce has come from Nature Fresh.

Peter Quiring, left, President and CEO of Nature Fresh Farms and South Essex Fabricating, accepts a plaque of appreciation from Ron Dunn, Executive Director of the Windsor Downtown Mission, on Monday, October 26.

Sun photo

The Mission’s FRESH Program is a food rescue service. The organization picks up healthy food from greenhouses, grocery stores and food wholesalers that would otherwise go to waste. The food is sorted, packaged and redistributed to over 64 schools and agencies that provide food security to people in the Windsor-Essex community.

Last year around this time, they were looking at shutting down the FRESH Program, due to lack of funding. Dunn went looking to see who would help.

“It was a difficult call to make,” said Dunn. “Nature Fresh and South Essex Fabricating have already donated so much.”

Not only did Quiring jump into action to help, Nature Fresh and South Essex Fabricating donated enough to cover the Mission’s entire operational costs for 2020.

That’s in addition to donating quality produce to the cause, along with other donors from this area.

Quiring was humbled by the acknowledgment.

“I admire Ron Dunn and his team,” said Quiring. “They do great work. It’s a great fit for us.”

“This is a better cause than almost any other cause out there,” he said. “I’m extremely happy and proud that we were able to help out.”

“If everybody did a little bit, the world would be truly a better place,” he added.

He explained that everyone has it within them to help, from carrying someone’s groceries, to making donations or just giving a leg up to someone.