Anne's Story

There’s an image from her first visit to the Dartmouth North Community Food Centre that is still clearly etched in Anne Campbell’s memory more than one year later. 

“We visited when young children were cooking at the centre for the very first time,” says the owner of Nova Scotian Crystal. “They were making muffins and afterwards they sat down and ate together. It was such a great picture to see these young kids finding their way around a kitchen, maybe for the first time ever.”

For Campbell, the youngest of 11 children, the kitchen is a place of many fond family memories. “Food has always been an integral part of my family life. We make the effort to gather several times a year and food is always the first thing we discuss.”

“Food is such a great way to bring people together,” says Campbell. “So the notion of providing good, healthy, nutritious food, and teaching people about it and creating community around it, that’s always been part of my experience.”

Making dinner or brunch for 24 people is not unusual at Campbell family gatherings. “We have a lot of shared meals when we are together,” says Campbell. The women are all great organizers, so different people take on different dishes. We’re adventurous cooks, so we try new things and enjoy them together.”

With sharing meals at the centre of so many personal experiences, it’s easy to see why supporting an organization that understands the power of good food wasn’t a stretch for Campbell and her husband John Lindsay of East Port Properties. The duo is well known for their generosity to community organizations and they were among the food centre’s earliest supporters.

“Having the backing of Anne Campbell and John Lindsay in our first year of operation was a real vote of confidence in the Community Food Centre model and its potential in Atlantic Canada,” says Roxanne Manning, the centre’s Executive Director.

For Campbell, the Community Food Centre offers the same gifts as those regular family gatherings – good food, prepared and enjoyed together, in a place where everyone is welcome. “For people that are passionate about food and about sharing food, the Food Centre is really a great example of how that works in community.”