The Salvation Army Caring Place in Maple Ridge is trying its hand at a trendy, eco-friendly diet created in British Columbia.
The shelter, which provides food for Mount Crescent Elementary School students, senior citizens at Maple Towers, and about 125 walk-ins, has spent the last four months serving meals that abide by the famous 100 Mile Diet.
The diet, first forged in 2005 by Vancouver authors Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon, is a hybrid of healthy eating and environmentalism.
Smith and MacKinnon spent a year only eating foods that had been grown and produced within 100 miles of their apartment -- the premise being that the less distance food has to travel before it reaches a plate, the fewer carbons are released in the air by boats, planes and shipping trucks.
And the Salvation Army, thanks to a $15,000 grant by the W. Garfield Weston Foundation, has been using the healthy fresh-food diet to feed low-income locals. So far, 2,500 meals have been served through the program.
"The response has been awesome," said Major Kathie Chiu.
"Especially in these economic down times teaching people how to produce their own meals that are nutritious and low cost is a really great thing."
The success of the program, which is now expanding to a Salvation Army in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, is being celebrated on Wednesday in Maple Ridge.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Rob Brown
