Nicole Babineau, 2025

Upward Mobility Kitchen: Student Experiences

I can’t express enough how amazing this experience was. I’ll be raving about this trip for a long time. We did it all, from sorting food at Feed Nova Scotia to folding nearly 900 burritos for a local school’s breakfast program. At Feed Nova Scotia, we toured their industrial sized warehouse that sorts and distributes food to 140 food banks, shelters, soup kitchens and meal programs across the province. It was extremely eye-opening to volunteer at Feed Nova Scotia and to see how much food travels through their warehouse, donated in truckloads by farmers, retailers, and corporations.

Hope Blooms is another organization we had the opportunity of visiting, which engages at-risk youth in experiential learning programs focused on food security, education, and social inclusion. The time spent at Hope Blooms was incredibly inspirational, as I was able to see and learn first-hand the effect of the 10,000 square feet of food gardens built by youth on a once abandoned plot of city land. In fact, one of the board of directors that we were able to meet with was one of the six kids who helped create the original urban garden in 2008. Hope Blooms provides a shared kitchen space for community members, serves around 4,000 pounds of fresh produce per week, hosts camps and after school programs, and provides scholarships.

One of the most memorable moments was visiting the high school receiving the meals, where we saw firsthand not just the need, but also the impact—like the excitement of students when they saw the yogurt cups being stocked. We also had the privilege of working at The Nook, engaging with the community, and educating them about the token program, which allows people to purchase a token from The Nook and give it to someone in need to redeem for a free meal.

As someone with deep Canadian roots and a passion for promoting nutrition, sustainability, and community health, this program provided an incredible opportunity to grow both personally and professionally, while making a meaningful contribution to the Halifax community. Our hosts, Shane and Rudy, were incredibly welcoming and let us immerse ourselves fully in every aspect of their operation. Ellie and I quickly became familiar with Upward Mobility Kitchens from top to bottom, and we were amazed by how much the organization does for the community. We witnessed the undeniable value of local food systems and the crucial importance of ensuring equitable access to nutritious food for everyone, something that Boston could certainly benefit from as well. In fact, I believe many cities could learn from the extensive efforts being made in Halifax to combat food insecurity.