Eatdrink #42 July/August 2013

8 www.eatdrink.ca
№ 42 | July/August 2013
food writer at large
A Taste For Life, and other matters ...
By Bryan Lavery
Iremember in the summer of 2003
when Sue Brooks, Fund Development
staffer for what was then the AIDS
Committee of London, called me
to pitch a fundraising initiative that was
creating a lot of excitement in Ottawa.
Brooks believed it would be successful in
London and wanted to run the idea past me
and another restaurant owner,
Colin Foster.
The concept was simple.
Brooks would promote the event
and help drive diners to the restaurants
on a Wednesday night.
We would donate 25 percent of
the before-tax tab to the agency, reach new
diners and have larger crowds than the usual
Wednesday night clientele. The proceeds
would be used to help those living with and
affected by HIV/AIDS in London with basic
needs such as food and transportation, and
to establish an emergency assistance fund.
Fast forward ten years to 2013: instead of
twelve restaurants participating in London,
there were twenty-eight in London, two in
Stratford and one in Exeter. The event now
has an established portfolio of significant
corporate and media sponsors who proudly
add their names and reputations to this
terrific event and important cause. Since its
Harvest Bucks
After a successful pilot, the Harvest Bucks
program is gaining momentum. This
initiative is aimed at improving access to
fresh produce for those in London who
need it most. The pilot project involved the
production, distribution, and redemption
of Harvest Bucks for fresh fruits and
vegetables, to increase access to and the
consumption of healthy, fresh produce.
Kim Leacy, a public health dietician
with the Middlesex-London Health Unit
(MLHU), was pleased with the results of
the pilot, which distributed Harvest Bucks
vouchers, redeemable at the Western Fair
Farmers’ & Artisans’ Market (WFFAM),
inception A Taste For Life has raised over
$550,000 and the agency, now Regional
HIV/AIDS Connection (RHAC), serves
Perth, Huron, Oxford, Elgin, Lambton and
Middlesex counties. There is still no cure for
HIV/AIDS. The number of clients needing
support and services has also grown. It is
more important than ever for A Taste For
Life to both exist and flourish.
Over the past ten years,
Brooks and I have collaborated
on events and initiatives for
important causes, and I’m
pleased to say she has never
steered me wrong. She understands
how important restaurant owners
are in mobilizing a community. Brooks has
recently returned to RHAC, and this summer
we will be making the rounds in Stratford, to
speak with like-minded and kindred spirits
in the restaurant community, to help grow A
Taste For Life in Stratford. We have a shared
passion and heartfelt belief in the event, but
far more important, we believe that the needs
of the people served by RHAC are just as critical
today as they were a decade ago. A Taste
For Life in Stratford signals to people living
with HIV in Stratford that they are not alone;
there is a network of support for them when
they need it.
to London area residents identified by
community groups as needing more
produce in their diets. I was happy to be
the liaison between Christopher Green
and Trevor Fowler of the Child and Youth
Network, Kim Leacy and the WFFAM.
Based on similar initiatives, Leacy told
the MLHU board, ``the pilot was a resounding
success for vulnerable families, the
organizations they access, and the produce
vendors at the market.”
WFFAM produce vendors and Harvest
Bucks participants Sherri and Craig Turner
say the pilot program was a great success.
“We were personally able to wait on many