Renfrew County District School Board (RCDSB)

In the culinary wing of Renfrew Collegiate Institute (RCI), the sound of sizzling pans and rhythmic chopping tells a bigger story. For students here, a few partnerships are turning the school kitchen into a powerful tool for social change, blending curriculum with a mission to end local food insecurity.

“What was once a space to learn how to bake a tray of cookies is now a production line for social change,” said Michael Wright, culinary arts teacher at RCI. “We aren’t just teaching kids how to follow a recipe; we are teaching them how to solve the hunger crisis in their own backyard.”

During the second semester of the 2024-25 school year, RCI piloted an Innovative Experiential Learning Food Recovery Program in partnership with the Renfrew and District Food Bank and Chris and Tanya's No Frills. The pilot proved that rescuing surplus food from a local grocery store and turning it into fresh meals was not only possible but also powerful. The missing piece was equipment. The Metro Shared Kitchen Grant provided the answer.

This program directly engages students in two urgent local and global challenges: food insecurity and the environmental cost of food waste.

Solution: The Metro Shared Kitchen Initiative

The Metro Shared Kitchen project is a $900,000 provincial initiative developed in partnership with Metro and Feed Ontario. By upgrading RCI’s standard high school kitchen into a professional-grade space, the program has allowed the school to rescue surplus food on an even larger scale and transform it into fresh, nutritious meals for people in need.

In November 2025, RCI launched its upgraded kitchen to help expand the Renfrew and District Food Bank's reach. Metro's funding added a new prep and teaching area, along with six kitchen stations designed to accommodate 30 students. Beyond the school day, the space is open to non-profit organizations and community groups.

A typical day now includes large-scale food preparation made possible by new specialized equipment, such as professional sauce makers, dehydrators, and freeze-dryers. Students work at six cooking stations to turn fresh produce into hearty meals like shepherd's pie and soup within hours of its arrival from the grocery store. What might have ended up in a landfill becomes lunch for a neighbour.

Results: Dignity, Nutrition, and a Community Pillar

The results have been swift and concrete.

Each day, students intercept and process roughly 80 percent of the 100 pounds of surplus produce received from Chris and Tanya's No Frills, diverting it from landfills and turning it into blanched vegetables, soups and frozen meals for the Renfrew and District Food Bank. Students also prepare about 300 healthy lunches and snacks each week for RCI's own nutrition program.

Before the retrofit, the local food bank relied heavily on dry goods and canned items. Today, the RCI kitchen produces between 1,000 and 1,200 fresh meals each week, providing clients with nutritious, care-made food.

RCI Principal Neil Farmer has seen the shift extend beyond the kitchen.

"This isn't a simulation. The impact is real and the students feel that impact," Farmer said. "It's transformed the school from an educational building into a community pillar."

For students, the experience goes well beyond any textbook. Student Carson Barkley has been part of the program from the beginning.

"I love that I can share my creativity and create food from whatever shows up in the morning," Barkley said. "The knowledge I have learned from this program will serve me well in Culinary Arts at Algonquin."

At the food bank, the response speaks for itself.

"Every day the food bank is open, I have the pleasure of handing out the meals prepared at RCI," said Ray, a volunteer at the Renfrew and District Food Bank. "The clients love these meals. They always compliment the program and the variety of food it offers them."

The students at RCI are proving that when schools open their doors to the community, no one gets left behind.