A local partnership to deliver full food services to a supportive housing community in Windsor.
The Welcome Centre Shelter for Women and Families is working alongside the Windsor Essex Community Housing Corporation (WECHC) to deliver full food services at Chateau Masson.
Through this partnership, three nutritious meals will be provided every day to the 40 tenants living at Chateau Masson to ensure that some of the city's most vulnerable residents have consistent access to healthy food options.
The two organizations are working together and building on their relationship which was established during WECHC's summer recreation program.
Lady Laforet, Executive Director of the Welcome Centre Shelter, says they had extra capacity in their kitchen and wanted to help.
"So from that, we came into conversation with them that they were looking for a new food provider at Chateau Masson, and it's taken a while to get the kinks out but we're officially on site as of last week, and providing nutritious meals and new partnerships to about 30 or 40 new community members."
She says they will be cooking on site at Chateau Masson.
"We've taken over that space, we're just in the process of getting it all cleaned up, getting our stuff in there, getting everything situated how our staff like it, and then starting to make connections with people and letting them get to know us, and know what they want from their food services."
Laforet says they hope this will lead to more future partnerships.
"We think that this is a great test for us of with our capacity, what is it looking like for our kitchen staff, how are they handling new menus and changes? And one of things we're doing is using this as sort of the soft-launch, pilot, test, of a new food service program for the public that we'll actually be launching in November."
WECHC is the largest social housing provider in Windsor and Essex County, and together with the Welcome Centre Shelter, this initiative is a step toward reducing food insecurity and improving the quality of life for residents in supportive housing.