In 2018, Greener Village unexpectedly received a tractor trailer load of fresh carrots. At that time, despite ample volunteers and a learning kitchen on site, we were not equipped to distribute or process these carrots fast enough, before half of this load went bad. With food insecurity on the rise, we knew this shouldn’t be the case. These carrots were our inspiration: thanks to a visionary Board of Directors willing to take risks, a community of donors who believed in this project and a dedicated team of staff and volunteers – we’re proud to announce that we’ve opened a perishable food rescue centre, the first of it’s kind in Atlantic Canada.

Thrive Food Rescue Centre is the first facility built specifically to rescue perishable food at scale. The 6500 square foot building includes a receiving and triage area, 800 square feet of freezer space, 800 square feet of refrigerated space and a Class 5 Commercial kitchen. The Centre is designed to process $4 million in food annually-food that we’ll distribute to all food banks across the province, using the transport system of FeedNB.

Perishable donations come in from grocers, distributors, and local growers, get sorted and inspected on site, and are quickly processed into fresh-frozen, ready-to-distribute food. What used to be a race against spoilage becomes food that can reach a family’s table days, weeks or months later, still fresh and nutritious.

The Thrive Food Rescue Centre will help us recover more nutritious, perishable food and get it where it is needed most, reducing waste while helping more families access the food they need.

We thank you for your support!