Harvest Haven with Type Diabeat-It
Harvest Haven with Type Diabeat-It
Type Diabeat-It is dedicated to ensuring Black and People of Colour understand what it means to live with diabetes by offering education and support.
Much of their work revolves around food education, with classes and events about diet and cooking held regularly in community spaces. In 2024, they made significant progress on their Harvest Haven project, which tackles food insecurity among the community in London that Type Diabeat-It serves.
Harvest Haven is a community food program off Exeter Road, where the Type Diabeat-It team is growing food to give out to people in the community. In 2024, the Miggsie Fund – Lawson Foundation, and London Community Foundation teamed up to contribute a grant of $33,100 to the project to support its growth.
With this funding, the team built a 600-square-foot insulated greenhouse, complete with a fully functional solar-powered irrigation system with an inground well to provide a sustainable water source.
“We produced 700 lbs of culturally competent food this year (2024), which was distributed for free to the community, addressing food insecurity and promoting cultural dietary practices,” said Mystery Furtado, CEO of Type Diabeat-It.
Two classes from the Thames Valley District School Board helped get the greenhouse up and running by participating in activities such as setting seedlings and tarping the land. Moving into 2025, the project will see visits from seven classes (grades 4-8), fostering greater community involvement and food literacy among youth.
A grade 6 class trip from the Thames Valley District School Board
There’s still plenty of scope for the Harvest Haven project to grow, and Type Diabeat-It has raised additional funding to get started on the plans that are in place.
“We have secured $40,000 to purchase three containers to establish an onsite processing facility,” said Mystery. “These containers will serve as office space for staff and volunteers, and a commercial kitchen for food processing and training.” More funding is required though, in order to retrofit the containers to make them suitable for purpose.
The Harvest Haven project is progressing according to plan, with significant milestones already achieved, and Mystery is sure it’ll continue to grow its impact: “We are committed to continuing our efforts to create sustainable, culturally relevant food environments while empowering the community through food literacy and education. With the additional infrastructure and resources we are working to secure, we are confident in our ability to expand our impact and achieve long-term sustainability.”
For more information about Type Diabeat-It, visit them at www.diabeat-it.ca/.
To learn more about the Harvest Haven project and its impact, read this article from CTV News.