Operation Grow in Midland has been growing and growing and growing.
A day after its seventh anniversary, the indoor, vertical farm was recognized by the province with an Excellence in Agriculture award in the Workforce Excellence category. It was one of 13 agriculture awards handed out during the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto earlier this month.
The reason it won for workforce excellence is because Operation Grow is a social enterprise supporting women who have suffered from abuse. Operation Grow is run under the banner of Huronia Transition Homes (HTH), which runs a women's shelter in Midland.
"It's huge. It's such a big deal for the organization," says HTH executive director Haily MacDonald.
“The thing about Operation Grow that sets it aside from so many social enterprises is violence against women impacts every aspect of a women’s life. It impacts their access to food, their self-esteem, their ability to meet basic needs," MacDonald explains. “What Operation Grow does is target all of those things. That’s what makes it so brilliant.”
Operation Grow means a lot to MacDonald. She wrote her master's thesis on Operation Grow. In 2015, her first full-time job with HTH was overseeing the design and build of Operation Grow at 436 Bay St.product
The grand opening of the facility was Nov. 1, 2017 and attended by then-Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne.
"I love this project," said MacDonald.
Operation Grow is an indoor vertical farm that grows lettuce, kale, Swiss chard, micro-greens and herbs.
Fresh produce is sold at the retail store along with homemade soups, dips, treats, salad dressings and more. The facility has a commercial kitchen where foods are prepared for the store and where women are taught cooking. The facility also has space for programs and there's a yoga studio to promote health and personal self-connection.
“We have over 200 members at Operation Grow. Those women are engaged in programming at some capacity,” MacDonald says. “We’ve had women who started with us when our doors opened who are still with us."
This year, seven or eight women have moved on to full-time, permanent employment in the community. MacDonald says that's not the end goal of Operation Grow, but it is a positive outcome.
"We really try hard to celebrate the women who stay engaged, who are able to work at the farm and get paid and reduce their depths of poverty in the same way we celebrate women who have the capacity to get full-time employment in the community,” she says.
One woman who has taken part in HTH and Operation Grow services says, “I feel completely surrounded by support at Operation Grow ... I have never had this kind of support in my life, and I can’t express the gratitude I have for the dedication of the women that are a part of the organization. I hope one day to do you all proud.”
Operation Grow received a letter of support from the Simcoe County Food Council in the application for the agriculture award.
The letter read in part: "At the core of everything they do, Operation Grow works to address the significant challenges surrounding food insecurity, basic needs, and reduction of social isolation faced by women with lived experience of violence. Their programs provide opportunities for women to gain skill sets and training to assist them in becoming economically stable."
MacDonald adds that the community of Midland embraced the social enterprise, kept shopping at the retail store and made it the success that it is today.
"Midland has celebrated this project in a way that is unfathomable," MacDonald says.
Operation Grow is open Monday to Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information visit the website or call 705-526-4769.
