February 2022
villagevibe News and views from the heart of Fernwood
Team effort surpasses goal ›› Mila Czemerys
W
e did it. Thank you so, so much to everyone who contributed to the Gift of Good Food this year. With your help, we surpassed not only our initial goal of $100,000, but our stretch goal of $120,000 as well. In total, we raised over $150,000 which will support over 225 families in need across Greater Victoria in 2022! Every year, funds raised support yearlong access to fresh fruits and vegetables for families facing food insecurity throughout Greater Victoria. We work with the Good Food Box to bulk purchase fresh produce from local farmers and distributors. The Good Food Box volunteers pack and distribute Good Food Boxes to communities across the CRD. The Gift of Good Food partners with community centers, transition houses, and local First Nations to reach their most vulnerable community members. We want to thank our 694 donors, 27 fundraising teams, and 18 partner organizations! You rock. Thank you to our team of volunteers who make the Gift of Good Food possible by everything from putting together the Good Food Box newsletter, reaching out for silent auction items, delivering Good Food Boxes to people’s homes, putting posters up around the neighbourhood to get the word out, rallying their friends and family to raise funds as a team, packing Good Food Boxes, to dropping letters to doorsteps! Thanks to our staff team for going above and beyond to ensure families has access to fresh produce. Thank you to all the small businesses who donated great items to our online auction and hosted donation boxes. Thanks to Do250 and Metropol for sponsoring, to Discovery Coffee for donating a portion of sales on your donations days and making a delicious fundraiser doughnut, and Hoyne for collecting donations at your tasting station. Thanks to everyone who liked and shared our posts about the fundraiser. Thanks to anyone we’ve missed! Every little bit helps. It really has been a team effort; we’re grateful for all of you. Still interested in contributing? Donate at thegoodfoodbox.ca/donate.
A couple of Good Food Box team members packing fresh produce for the community. Photo: Don Craig
buzz:
Child care is essential ›› Shannon Jamison Parents have always relied on child care to work. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has made it crystal clear that child care is also an essential service for our society. We’ve seen that without child care many health care and public safety workers can’t do their jobs, and the story’s the same across all sectors of our economy. Despite this, throughout the pandemic the child care sector has often been in the dark—left to navigate and interpret provincial health orders and develop policies and safety protocols on their own. As one Early Childhood Educator stated in a recent open letter, “We have gone above and beyond to provide the safest possible environments for the children in our care and yet somehow we have been given little to no guidance or support.”
This needs to change. Early Childhood Educators need to be recognized and acknowledged for the critical role they have played in this pandemic, in the lives of families and across our economy. This can start with the Province working cooperatively with the child care sector to identify and implement appropriate safeguards, including priority access to vaccination boosters, rapid antigen tests
Indigenous Voices
Buzz
Trees of Fernwood
Advice for an effective ally page 4
Substance offers harm reduction page 5
The magic of cherry blossom season page 7
and PCR testing, and personal protective equipment including N95 masks. It should also include proactive communication and consultation about emerging variants and impacts to the sector. My daughter’s early childhood educators are some of the most important people in our lives—providing a foundation of daily support—and our government needs to do more to support them, too.
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