A Carleton student has launched a new mobile food delivery program called FoodWorks that supports at-risk youth in the Ottawa area.
Founder and operator Reem Buhaisi said his program has two main benefits.
“We’re here to provide seniors and people with a disability with an essential service, which is providing them with home-cooked meals,” Buhaisi said. “At the same time, we’re here to employ and train our youth who use our programs so that they’re able to get out into the work force.”
This social enterprise is an initiative of Operation Come Home, a non-profit organization in downtown Ottawa dedicated to educating, supporting, and employing at-risk youth in the community.
“What’s great with us is that we want to break the isolation that many seniors are living in. Our way of contributing to that is by having youth deliver those meals,” Buhaisi said.
Youth between the ages of 16 and 29 will be preparing, cooking, and delivering the meals by cargo bike and VRTUCAR three times a week.
“It’s great for [seniors] to have a visit, someone who can come check in on them, make sure that everything’s okay, but at the same time they can enjoy a good conversation and be able to have one of our meals as well,” Buhaisi said.
FarmWorks, a sister social enterprise completely run by youth, is teaming up with the new initiative to provide certified organic, fresh, and seasonal food.
Each meal is eight dollars per plate, and includes a main dish, two side dishes, and a choice of dessert or a salad.
“We have things like lasagna and penne with pesto, and our goal is to make as many things from scratch as possible,” Buhaisi said. “It’s a great way for us to make sure everything is fresh and healthy, but at the same time, it’s a really cool way for the youth to know how to make things. It’s very easy to buy something from supplier, but it’s also really awesome to learn how to make it and use our own produce too.”
The delivery service will begin once a minimum of 10 clients have subscribed, and can be provided on a short or long term basis.
Delivery is scheduled to start mid-October, and Carleton is within the seven kilometre delivery zone.
