Heather Latter
The board of the Rainy River District Regional Abattoir Inc. is continuing its efforts to support and enhance the local food initiative by creating a marketing and distribution network that has a co-ordinator.
But in order to do that, it is in need of funding.
The board has turned to “crowdfunding” (the practice of funding a project or venture by raising many small amounts of money from a large number of people, typically via the Internet) as a way to raise the money needed to hire a local food hub co-ordinator.
“We’re just struggling and we really feel that we have another hurdle, [but] if we can get things in place, maybe we can see our way through,” said local farmer Kim Jo Bliss, who is featured in the video posted on the group’s crowdfunding webpage.
She noted the RRDRAI is a non-profit, community-based organization employing six people and overseen by a volunteer board of directors.
It began operations in 2010 in Emo.
“We have continued to look to the future,” Bliss stressed, noting their mandate has been to stimulate economic growth and development in the local agriculture community.
“This organization is an integral part of the local food landscape and provides an essential service to its members on a fee-for-service basis,” she explained.
But Bliss said they need to have more cattle going through the abattoir.
“In the big picture, we’re not just talking about the abattoir, we’re talking about local food,” she remarked.
“But talking about the abattoir, the big thing is we need to source more cattle to go through the abattoir and get them into more markets or extend the current markets that we have,” she stressed, adding Rainy River Meats in Emo is willing to grow more.
“We want to be a part of the Cloverbelt food hub that is already existing,” Bliss noted. “But what it comes down to is we need somebody to be doing some of this extra work.”
She said board members are all volunteers and there is a manager at the abattoir, with the rest of the employees working part-time.
“The manager is stretched to the max now so we need a person who could make the workload lighter by finding some of those cattle and a market for the cattle to go to,” Bliss said.
“That is really what we are looking at.”
In the video, Bliss points out that today’s families are appreciating the value of local food as seen by the growth of farmers’ markets, which are important to small towns and tourism.
“It all ties together and it’s a bigger picture than just butchering,” she said.
“That’s not the attractive part of it, but it has to happen and it has to be done properly.
“Animals need to be inspected and graded; that’s why we have these things in place,” Bliss added.
“Everyone should be concerned about us losing it [the abattoir]—not just our farmers,” she warned.
“If we have to truck our animals out of town to have them butchered, we’re losing that whole local aspect,” she stressed.
“We are trying to use less transportation and be more humane to our animals.”
Bliss indicated the board temporarily hired Jennifer MacDonald of New Brunswick, with some short-term funding, to work on the Local Food Fund Project.
She noted MacDonald has been doing a great job, but will be finishing up here in mid-December.
“If we could be nearing our goal by then, it would be really big,” Bliss said, noting they would be able to hire someone to continue on with the work.
The goal for the project is $50,000 and as of Monday, more than $2,300 already had been raised through 20 donations.
The initiative was launched last Tuesday.
“People had suggested ‘crowdfunding’ a long time ago and we didn’t know anything about it,” Bliss admitted in referring to why the board ultimately chose to seek funding in this manner.
“Our neighbours in Dryden were successful in raising funds this way to build a beautiful community greenhouse,” she noted.
So the board finally decided to look at “crowdfunding” as an option to rise the money needed.
“What do we have to lose?” Bliss reasoned. “Let’s make a video promoting our district and local food.”
With the help of recent Fort High graduate Cameron Penny, the RRDRAI board was able to create a video that’s now posted on the “Go Fund Me” webpage.
“Having the abattoir in our community has made buying local food/meat possible,” noted one financial contributor.
“We need this vital piece of infrastructure to stay.”
“The abattoir is essential to building a thriving local food system,” said another. “Thanks for initiating this campaign.”
Bliss said the board wanted to include youth in the video.
“We are passionate about building a network that will help our young people find livelihoods in farming,” she explained.
“I want to be a farmer to keep the farming traditions going,” noted a young girl in the video.
“In order for our kids or grandkids to be able to farm, while things have improved, we need to continue to keep moving forward and they need to have an abattoir,” Bliss reiterated.
She added they’re not limited to this co-ordinator just selling meat.
“We’re talking local food,” she remarked. “Could we get vegetables up to the far north with some meat?
“We’re not excluding any of the products that we can grow in the district.”
While supporting the abattoir may not seem as important as funding something like health care, for instance, Bliss said it is.
“Food is important,” she stressed. “We all love to eat.
“Food makes us happy and as farmers, feeding our families and our neighbours gives us a real sense of pride and accomplishment.
“So we need to make sure we can continue to do this,” she remarked. “I hope that our friends and neighbours will help us make sure we can do it.”
Bliss said she’s pleased to already see some donations coming in.
“Whether or not you use the abattoir, agree with it or not, it is an essential piece of infrastructure that adds value to each and every farm in our district,” Bliss emphasized.
“We are growing infrastructure for the future, for our farmers in the Rainy River District,” she explained.
“We want to continue to be part of the sustainable locally-grown food products for our family, friends, and neighbours.”
Bliss said she’s really counting on the community to get them past this hurdle.
“I do hear the negative comments, but I know we have a lot of good people out there that will get us past this next stumbling block,” she remarked, noting if 500 of her friends all donated $100 each, it would be wonderful.
“But the truth is, we will be happy with any and all donations,” she said.
“Please support our abattoir in this project and help us to make a regional food hub a reality,” Bliss urged.
“I do honestly think we have a good project, and I hope this is what is going to make us keep going forward.”
To view the video and/or make a donation, visit www.gofundme.com/rrabattoir
