It stands for Food Equity With Dignity (pronounced FOOD). It offers an equitable, dignified, and nourishing food source for community members no matter their economic status. It approaches food preparation with the same methods used at celebrated farm-to-table restaurants and food businesses. It has no fixed menu and draws on the creativity, skills and flexibility of experienced cooks, allowing raw ingredients to be quickly transformed into delicious menu items; creating a continuous stream for getting surplus food out of fields, boxes, fridges and freezers - and onto dinner tables of families throughout our community. Community FEWD is housed within the Guelph Neighbourhood Support Coalition, a registered charity, allowing FEWD to provide charitable receipts for donations and apply for grant funding. 

Community FEWD does not seek to replace the essential work current agencies are already doing, but to work with them in order to complement their services and resolve gaps that hinder further surplus diversion. Most food security programs lack the labour force and facilities required to safely process mass quantities of perishables in a timely and food-safe manner on an ongoing basis - Community FEWD does this.

FEWD can be to be scaled up, replicated and adapted to reach diverse populations and divert large quantities of surplus foods from ending up as waste. 

The operation is led by experienced cooks with support from teams of volunteers and students. These teams create restaurant-quality, nutritious meals available to all - through a by-donation system - and bring them to neighbourhoods throughout Guelph. Find out where we serve here.