Latest news with #affordablefood
Free Malaysia Today
4 days ago
- Business
- Free Malaysia Today
‘RM5 a meal' eatery among 7 Rafizi plans for social change
Former economy minister Rafizi Ramli said he and his team have already found the necessary partners and assets for the social enterprises to start. (Facebook pic) KUALA LUMPUR : Former PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli has launched seven social enterprises under his 'Ayuh Malaysia' platform, including an eatery in Pandan Indah selling food at under RM5 a meal. The Pandan MP said the seven enterprises will commence operations in September, adding that he and his team have already found the necessary partners and assets for the initiatives to start. Besides the 'Kesum' eatery selling breakfast, lunch and dinner for under RM5, there will also be a sundry shop named 'FlexiMart' using the 'refill' concept. This concept involves the sale of goods without single-use packaging, with customers buying what they need by 'refilling' their own containers instead. 'We will also try to offer the installation of solar panels on roofs for low-income families, through the 'Suria' social enterprise in Petaling Jaya,' he said at the launch. Rafizi will also introduce a 'SagaSivik' civic education programme in Setiawangsa and a training initiative dubbed 'CLIB' in Ampang to prepare youths and undergraduates for the job market. Another initiative is called 'PinjamGajet'. It is based in Selayang and offers youths training on repairing laptops and smartphones, while the gadgets are then rented out to low-income households for as low as RM10 a year. The former economy minister will also introduce the 'TanamDuit' social enterprise in Rembau, Negeri Sembilan, which seeks to encourage modern agriculture on abandoned land. Rafizi previously said these social enterprises were another way of bringing change to society and local communities, outside of politics. He said 'Ayuh Malaysia' would operate differently from profit-oriented businesses and donation-reliant NGOs by empowering local communities to conduct economic activities that are both effective and self-sustaining.
CBC
5 days ago
- Business
- CBC
This mobile food market aims to help low-income families in Montreal
MultiCaf is helping people get more access to fresh, local and affordable produce close to home. The non-profit organization takes its solidarity market on the road in the summer to different locations in the Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood.
CTV News
13-07-2025
- General
- CTV News
‘Jason would be ecstatic': Morse Place Community Centre launches grocery access program
Access to groceries in Winnipeg's Elmwood neighbourhood may have just gotten a little easier. On Saturday, Morse Place Community Centre launched a new grocery access program aimed at tackling food insecurity and lowering grocery costs in the Elmwood and East Kildonan areas. 'It's especially important in this neighbourhood because there's very limited access to grocery stores,' said Chris Sweryda, project manager for the initiative. 'This program offers two components: lowering the cost and increasing accessibility.' Operating out of three basement rooms at the community centre, the program offers pantry staples such as soup, cereal, canned goods and pasta sauce. Items are purchased at low cost and sold below retail prices. 'We try to get the prices as low as we possibly can,' Sweryda said. 'When we get a really good deal on a particular item, we'll stock up and try to buy a few months' worth to ride out between sales and create a stable, low price for the community.' The initiative was inspired by the late city councillor Jason Schryer, who was a strong advocate for affordable food access. 'Jason would be ecstatic,' Sweryda said. 'He absolutely loved providing services for the community, and food was a very big passion of his. He personally brought a lot of the food into this building that we're selling here today.' No means test is required to access the program, which is open to all community members. In-person shopping is available on the first and third Saturday of each month from 1 to 4 p.m. A delivery service is also offered, focusing on seniors' housing, low-income complexes and schools. Community members are encouraged to help with deliveries and coordination.
The Guardian
07-07-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Big food companies must be held to account in obesity crisis
Zoe Williams is right to call out the lack of affordable healthy food for people living on the lowest incomes, as well as the need to stop preaching healthy eating and instead address the root causes, including the way our food industry operates (The way to tackle obesity in the UK is to make healthy food affordable. But the government won't admit it, 30 June). But it's not as simple as demanding more price cuts, which could end up falling even harder on the very low-wage workers and farmers struggling to survive, rather than the big food profiteers she is calling out. Williams points to Hungary as an example, where there is also an additional levy on production and sales of unhealthy food and drink, with the money raised supporting nurses' wages and public health interventions. Similar models could be deployed in the UK to get big food companies to change their recipes while subsidising fruit and vegetable access via school meals, early years feeding support or community initiatives. Let's hope the forthcoming food strategy will adopt some of these more ambitious solutions. Barbara CrowtherManager, Children's Food Campaign, Sustain Zoe Williams' analysis of the links between obesity and big food is spot on. Another turn in the screw I've experienced is that, at least in the case of the two excellent local food banks where I have volunteered, a large proportion of the food distributed – pasta, bottled sauces, biscuits and cakes, white bread – comes from big supermarket chains. Many service users tended to shun healthier choices. I suspected this was through lack of the surplus hope, energy and curiosity required to shift from habitual eating patterns and addictions. As, with far less excuse, I find it hard to limit my intake of chocolate and Dodwell Bradford Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
RNZ News
04-07-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Country Life: Crooked Vege's pay-what-you-can model feeding families two years on
Jon with a box of newly harvested vegetables Photo: Supplied It's a little over two years since Crooked Vege started up near Ōtaki with a plan to allow people to just "pay what you can" for a weekly vege box. What started with a somewhat noble, if not radical idea, for New Zealand at least, seems to be working, notwithstanding some challenges. Back in 2023 , co-founder Jonathan Mines was living in a portacabin looking out over a few newly dug rows, with an experimental cover crop in a small polytunnel. When Country Life visited again this week, things had revved up more than a notch. Follow Country Life on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , iHeart or wherever you get your podcasts. The registered charity has gone from 200 to 300 square metres in production to about 1500m2. There's a large greenhouse heaving with winter crops, an automated irrigation system and a nursery "you can stand up in", helped by $34,000 in donations after a crowdfunding exercise. "Still very DIY, but far more functional," Mines said. Winter crops flourishing in the greenhouse Photo: RNZ/Sally Round The trust-based model of pay-as-you-can weekly vege boxes is done in conjunction with Ahoaho Māra Kai at Ōtaki College. "There's no means testing. If people need access to affordable, high quality veg, you shouldn't have to prove that you're poor to get that." Do people still think it's a crazy idea? "Mostly that language has turned to support, more than 'you guys are naive and a bit silly and a bit daft and idealistic'." So, how successful have the boxes been and is it sustainable for the growers? Largely, it is, Mines said. "People seem to be pretty honest. We state what the average value of a veggie bag subscription is, and people, they just choose what they want to pay," Mines said. "So it's self-policing, totally trust-based." Around 60 percent of people pay the asking price, while 10 to 20 percent pay more than that and 15 to 25 percent under. The farmers are paid a fair wage but also rely on the support of volunteers. At work in the vegetable beds Photo: Supplied "We don't really track individually what people are doing but I know sometimes there are people who can't afford to pay anything in a certain week, and that's totally fine," Mines said. "That's really the sort of people that we want to be growing food for, like people who really care about where their kai comes from, but are just in a tough place." Mines said they also grow some niche crops for restaurants, and supply retailers and an honesty box outlet in the neighbourhood, with zero waste. Crooked Vege grows vegetables for a pay-what-you-can vege box and for local restaurants as well as a few retailers Photo: Supplied But there have been challenges. They have been burgled twice in six months and are fund-raising to replace $5000 worth of power tools and specialist equipment, and to upgrade their security system at the cost of about $9000, an amount they'd rather put into the community, Mines said wryly. So, has he ever felt like giving up over the past two years? "Yeah, heaps. I don't know, I guess there's a lot of stubbornness there, or pig headedness or stupidity." Jonathan Mines Photo: RNZ/Sally Round Living conditions are a bit easier for Mines two years on from living in a leaky trailer followed by a chilly off-grid cabin. "I'm not at all thinking about leaving this project, other than, you know, those really dark moments, like when you turn up to work and your door has been smashed down with a pickaxe." He said the goal is to get the farm to a spot where it pays everyone a reasonable wage. "We know we've done heaps of hard mahi in setting this place up, and if we were ever to leave it, would want it to be making it easier for someone else to be stepping into this kind of work." If you'd like to assist Crooked Vege, go to Learn more:
