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ORIGINAL STORY

How to set up a PWYC market: Tips from Moss Park’s unique model

The Green Line team visited Moss Park Market to learn how its pay-what-you-can model helps locals afford healthy, good-quality food.

Ella Lightstone, food programs manager at Moss Park Market, stands in front of the shipping container at 260 Queen St. E. where the market is held every Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
: Amanda Seraphina/The Green Line.

Amanda Seraphina James Rajakumar

Indian immigrant with a post-grad in journalism from Centennial College. Now living in Grange Park, meeting new people, and hearing different stories. Has four names, so it’s a pick-your-player situation.

 

March 21, 2025

SETTING UP A MARKET 101

• Define your market area. By creating a catchment area for the market, it ensures that high-quality food reaches those in need in the neighbourhood, and supply doesn’t run out.
• Acquire a space in the neighbourhood that’s accessible for all residents.
• Apply for government grants, get donations from residents and set up a pay-what-you-can model at the market.
• Partner with food organizations for fresh produce. Moss Park Market uses its own community garden and also partners with Second Harvest, FoodShare, Bondi Produce, Broadfork, Not Far From the Tree and Metropolitan Urban Rooftop Farm.
• Build community through fun initiatives such as “Coffee and Conversations.” In the summertime, Moss Park Market also plays music and provides games outside for residents.

Buying groceries isn’t cheap.

You can walk into a grocery store with $10 and walk out with just milk and eggs — but, that’s not enough for a healthy meal.

So, one innovative market in Moss Park is helping residents eat well and affordably through its unique market model.

Moss Park, which locals call “crunchy” — meaning rough or “a little pocket with high need” — is lined with shelters, social services and social housing. The City of Toronto’s latest census shows that the downtown Toronto neighbourhood has a higher percentage of low-income earners compared to the rest of the city.

A map of Moss Park showing all the shelters, social services and social housing in the neighbourhood.
: Paul Zwambag for The Green Line.

So, how do residents buy groceries that fit their budget? One way is through the Moss Park Market. Run by social venture Building Roots, the market has a unique pay-what-you-can model. Unlike food banks, which hand out a select bag of groceries, the market allows residents to pick produce that they like and pay what's possible.

Moss Park Market, located at 260 Queen St. E., is a pay-what-you-can market set up inside a shipping container.
: Amanda Seraphina/The Green Line.

Chris Little, who works in Moss Park says, “I can't afford [groceries] and it's crazy, really. I mean, the basic, unprocessed food is very expensive, and that's the healthiest [kind that] you want to eat, [but] it's out of affordability for most people, I think, especially around this neighbourhood.”

Meanwhile, Moss Park resident Julio Naval Baron adds, “What I complain about is mostly the prices. Everything is going up, up. Then, the next day you go to the supermarket and you realize the prices have gone up again — and it's crazy.”

Ella Lightstone, food programs manager at Moss Park Market, says the neighbourhood is small, diverse and has a high need.

The market is a focal point in the neighbourhood, she adds, saying that people stop by throughout the day, whether it’s to get a sandwich, access harm reduction supplies or just warm up.

"Food security is what I do, but Building Roots supports the community in other ways as well. The market is like the thing — it's big, it's busy, it's exciting,” she explains. “But the other things, like those quiet and caring moments that we have every single week, are more important.”

Volunteers create fruit and vegetable baskets inside Moss Park Market, which is open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. every Saturday.
: Amanda Seraphina/The Green Line.

The market's catchment area is specifically Moss Park. First-time visitors are asked to sign up with their name and address to get a membership card, which allows residents to shop. The market ensures locals have access to fresh and healthy food through produce that comes from their own community garden and partner organizations.

Set up in spring 2024, the Moss Park Community Garden offers fresh produce for the Moss Park Market.
: Building Roots.

Muhammad Ahsen Bhatti, a volunteer who’s been a part of the Moss Park Market for four years, says prices for groceries have gone up across the board, and having access to high quality daily essentials is important for people to function. “People can't go about their daily lives. They can't work, they can't go to school or anything if they aren't able to be healthy and lead healthy lives,” he explains.

Bhatti adds that two of the biggest problems Moss Park residents face when it comes to groceries are rising costs and a lack of time to cook a healthy meal. In response, the market also provides meals by setting up a table called “Coffee and Conversations,” where residents are served coffee, baked goods, sandwiches and more.

Volunteers at Moss Park Market set up the “Coffee and Conversations” table outside the market at Queen Street East and Ontario Street.
: Amartya Smaran/ The Green Line.

Eight years ago, a dozen eggs in Ontario cost under $3; today, that same dozen costs nearly $5, according to Statistics Canada.

A report by CivicAction and Boston Consulting Group released this month shows that 51 per cent of new food bank users come from households with at least one person employed, suggesting that food insecurity impacts everyone, not just the jobless.

Graphic showing the increase in cost of a dozen eggs in Ontario over the past eight years, according to Statistics Canada.
: Paul Zwambag for The Green Line.

The Moss Park Market currently runs on earnings from the market, donations from residents and government grants. But Lightstone says community funding would be the most sustainable way of running it in the long term.

She also wants the market to offer economic opportunities for residents by providing a space where they can sell their own crafts and food.

Signs on Moss Park Market’s front door that help residents understand how the market functions.
: Amanda Seraphina/The Green Line.

Fact-Check Yourself

Sources and
further reading

Don't take our word for it —
check our sources for yourself.

Building Roots

About Moss Park Market

City of Toronto

2021 Neighbourhood Profile: Moss Park

Statistics Canada

Monthly average retail price for selected products

CivicAction and BCG

2025: Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area Housing Crisis: Hidden costs, bold solutions

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The post How to set up a PWYC market: Tips from Moss Park’s unique model appeared first on The Green Line.

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LONDON (AP) — Britain’s Heathrow Airport was closed all day Friday after a fire at a nearby electrical substation knocked out its power, disrupting flights for hundreds of thousands of passengers at Europe’s busiest travel hub.

At least 1,350 flights to and from Heathrow were affected, flight tracking service FlightRadar 24 said, and the impact was likely to last several days as passengers try to reschedule their travel.

Some 120 flights were in the air when the closure was announced, with some turned around and others diverted to Gatwick Airport outside London, Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris or Ireland’s Shannon Airport, tracking services showed.

Lawrence Hayes was three-quarters of the way to London from John F. Kennedy International in New York when Virgin Atlantic announced they were being diverted to Glasgow.

“It was a red-eye flight and I’d already had a full day, so I don’t even know how long I’ve been up for,” Hayes told the BBC as he was getting off the plane in Scotland. “Luckily I managed to get hold of my wife and she’s kindly booked me a train ticket to get back to Euston, but it’s going to be an incredibly long day.”

Fire under control but impact to last days

The fire at a power station about 2 miles from the airport was brought under control about seven hours after it erupted in a ball of flames, the London Fire Brigade said.

“We don’t know the cause of this fire. It’s obviously an unprecedented event,” Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said.

Miliband said the fire had also knocked out a backup power supply to the airport. Heathrow said in a statement that the fire had given it no choice but to close the airport for the day.

“We expect significant disruption over the coming days, and passengers should not travel to the airport under any circumstances until the airport reopens,” the airport said.

Heathrow is one of the world’s busiest airports for international travel. It had its busiest January on record earlier this year, with more than 6.3 million passengers, up more than 5% from the same period last year. January also was the 11th month in a row that it averaged over 200,000 passengers a day, with the airport citing trans-Atlantic travel as a key contributor.

The disruption was reminiscent of the 2010 eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which spewed clouds of ash into the atmosphere and created trans-Atlantic air travel chaos for months.

Heathrow was at the heart of a shorter disruption in 2023 when Britain’s air traffic control system was hit by a breakdown that slowed takeoffs and landings across the U.K. on one of the busiest travel days of the year.

Anita Mendiratta, an aviation consultant, said the impact of the closure will be felt over two to four days as airlines, cargo carriers, and crews are re-mobilized and passengers rebooked.

“As soon as the airport opens up at midnight tonight, it’s not only about resuming with tomorrow’s flights, it’s the backlog and the implications that have taken place,” Mendiratta said. “Crew and aircraft, many are not where they’re supposed to be right now. So the recalculation of this is going to be intense.”

Diverted, canceled and in limbo

United Airlines said seven of its flights returned to their origin or diverted to other airports and its flights Friday to Heathrow were canceled.

At least two flights from Taiwan to London were affected, the island’s Central News Agency reported. A China Airlines flight that left in the morning turned around and was headed back to Taiwan. An EVA Air flight stopped in Bangkok, a planned stopover, while the airline assessed the situation in London.

Singapore Airlines said on the X social media platform that its overnight flight to London was diverted to Frankfurt.

The FlightAware website showed more cancellations, including two from JFK in New York, a Delta Airlines flight and an American Airlines flight.

National Rail canceled all trains to and from the airport.

Blaze lit up the sky and darkened homes

The London Fire Brigade sent 10 fire engines and around 70 firefighters to control the blaze after flames soared into the sky when a transformer at an electrical substation caught fire in west London late Thursday night.

About 150 people were evacuated from their homes near the power station.

“This was a very visible and significant incident, and our firefighters worked tirelessly in challenging conditions to bring the fire under control as swiftly as possible,” Assistant Commissioner Pat Goulbourne said. “Thanks to their efforts and coordinated multi-agency response, we successfully contained the fire and prevented further spread.”

Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks said in a post on X the power outage affected more than 16,300 homes.

Heathrow normally opens for flights at 6 a.m. due to nighttime flying restrictions. It said the closure would last until 11:59 p.m. Friday.

The U.K. government earlier this year approved building a third runway at the airport to boost the economy and connectivity to the world.

Brian Melley And Danica Kirka, The Associated Press

The post London’s Heathrow Airport closed for the day after a substation fire, disrupting travel appeared first on CityNews Winnipeg.

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