June’s Awesome Ottawa award goes to Kim Kirton, Maria Anghelidis, and the Enactus uOttawa “Sprout” team to support their pilot project getting fresh produce into convenience stores.

“Sprout is an innovative solution that tackles the problem of food deserts in Ottawa,” explains Holly Todd, Vice President of Social Enterprises for the student-run club. “A food desert is an area that lacks fresh fruits and vegetables and other healthy foods. This usually means a lack of grocery stores, farmer's markets, and the like, so the people living there have no access to healthy food. Sprout can be the oasis in these food deserts,” Holly says, “providing fresh produce to these areas using a vessel that is already present – convenience stores.”

Sprout is currently in its pilot phase, with one convenience store at 487 Cumberland St. The award from Awesome Ottawa will support a launch in a second convenience store, and a community event to celebrate it.

Kim is Project Manager of Sprout, and Maria is Head of Operations. Both are undergraduate students at the University of Ottawa.