London Community Resource Centre

What London Community Resource Centre does

London Community Resource Centre (LCRC) is a Canadian non-profit charitable organization founded in 1974 in London, Ontario, focused on food security and food literacy education. The organization operates the Grow Cook Learn program, which consolidates two decades of food security work (dating to 2002) into hands-on workshops and community gardening experiences. Its core offerings include the Public Grow Cook Learn Workshop Series, the Youth Prep & Eat Series, and the Westview Community Garden, which provides 30 plots on a geared-to-income rental basis ($15–$40 per season) on land donated by Westview Baptist Church.

LCRC is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors and operates with seven staff, supplemented by volunteer participants and student placements from Western University and Canada Summer Jobs. Workshops are held at community sites including East Lions Community Centre and Growing Chefs Headquarters, with 10–30 participants per session, typically running 4:30 PM to 8:30 PM. The organization has no proprietary technology platform; its digital footprint consists of a WordPress website, Instagram and Facebook pages, and the Dandelion Events platform for registrations.

Revenue is not publicly disclosed. As a registered charity (BN: 107641722RR0001), LCRC is funded through donations, grants, and nominal program fees. Its customer base is entirely local to London, Ontario, and comprises individual community members, youth, and families seeking food literacy, affordable gardening access, and hands-on cooking education.

Name

London Community Resource Centre

Legal name

London Community Resource Centre

Website

https://lcrc.on.ca

Company type

Private

Founded year

1974

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

London Community Resource Centre is a Canadian non-profit founded in 1974 that runs the Grow Cook Learn food literacy program in London, Ontario, offering hands-on cooking workshops and a 30-plot geared-to-income community garden.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Food Services and Education

NAICS

Community Food Services (62421)

akta.pro primary industry

Culinary Arts & Cooking (Baking, Pastry, Global Cuisines) (EDAAAGAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Cooking Classes & Chef-Led Workshops (THAJAGAI), Community & Adult Education (Municipal/Community Schools) (EDAAAEAB)

Keywords

• Community food education
• Food literacy programs
• Community garden plots
• Cooking workshops
• Nonprofit community services

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Pricing tiers

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

The London Community Resource Centre, through its Grow Cook Learn program, delivers community food literacy education — hands-on cooking, preservation, and gardening workshops — alongside the Westview Community Garden, which provides 30 geared-to-income garden plots to London, Ontario residents who lack space to grow food at home. Programs target individuals, youth, and families and are delivered in person at community venues such as East Lions Community Centre and Growing Chefs Headquarters.

Product overview

London Community Resource Centre operates as a community-focused nonprofit offering the Grow Cook Learn program as its primary food literacy initiative. The program consists of multiple components: public and youth cooking workshops (Grow Cook Learn Workshops, Public Series, Youth Prep & Eat Series), and the Westview Community Garden providing 30 geared-to-income garden plots. The organization also facilitates volunteer opportunities and community engagement activities, all centered on food security and education. These offerings work together to build healthier eating habits and stronger community connections through experiential learning.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Grow Cook Learn A community food literacy and education program that teaches individuals and families in London, Ontario to grow, prepare, preserve, and enjoy locally grown fresh food through hands-on workshops and community activities. It is the umbrella program for LCRC's cooking workshops and community garden.
• Westview Community Garden A community garden program at 1000 Wonderland Road South offering 30 plots rented on a geared-to-income basis, enabling London, Ontario community members who lack space or resources to garden at home to grow their own produce.
• Community Garden Plots Garden plot rentals at the Westview Community Garden on a geared-to-income basis — $15 to $40 per season for approximately 400-square-foot plots (raised beds, full plots, or half plots), with pricing scaled by household income bracket.
• Public Grow Cook Learn Series Public cooking workshops open to volunteers and participants aged high school and above, typically held 4:30 PM to 8:30 PM, with hands-on station-based activities combining presentations, demonstrations, and recipes.
• Youth Prep & Eat Series Culinary program for young participants, supported by volunteers with a high school diploma, focused on teaching food preparation skills through hands-on activities.
• Grow Cook Learn Workshops Hands-on cooking and food preservation workshops covering kitchen chemistry, small-batch preserves, and restaurant-quality meal preparation techniques, delivered in person to community members in London, Ontario.
• Berry Sweet Jam Workshop A hands-on themed workshop focusing on small-batch fruit preserves and jam making, exploring the chemistry behind fruit preservation and pectin.
• Alfredo Alchemist 2.0 Workshop A themed cooking workshop teaching participants to make restaurant-quality Alfredo pasta from scratch without store-bought ingredients.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Westview Baptist ChurchcoreOthers · 1 January 2004Westview Baptist Church donated land that has been used for the Westview Community Garden since 2004. This land donation enables LCRC to provide community garden plots to residents who lack space or resources to garden at home.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Community Food Centres Canada: National backbone organization supporting a network of Community Food Centres across Canada that combine food access, food skills, and advocacy. Directly comparable in model to LCRC's combined garden-plus-workshops approach, but operating as a national network rather than a single local site.
• Second Harvest: Canada's largest food rescue organization, redistributing surplus food across the country. Comparable in addressing food insecurity but operating at national scale and focused on food rescue rather than garden/workshop education.

Emerging players

• Evergreen: Toronto-based charity focused on urban sustainability, including community gardens, school ground greening, and food systems programming. Comparable in the community-gardens and food-literacy dimensions of LCRC's work, though broader in scope.
• Meal Exchange: Canadian student-led charity mobilizing youth to address food insecurity on and off campus through projects, research, and community engagement. Comparable in food-security mission but focuses on a younger, post-secondary demographic rather than community-wide food literacy.
• Not Far From The Tree: Toronto-based volunteer-driven fruit gleaning and food-sharing organization. Tangentially comparable in mobilizing volunteers around food access, but a different operating model (gleaning vs. garden/workshop delivery).

Direct peers

• Growing Chefs Ontario: London, Ontario-based charity running hands-on culinary and food literacy programs for youth and the community. Effectively a co-located peer with overlapping mission and even shares physical workshop space with LCRC at Growing Chefs Headquarters.
• FoodShare Toronto: Toronto-based community food organization running food literacy programs, community gardens, and food justice initiatives. Highly comparable to LCRC's Grow Cook Learn in mission (food security through education), though operating at significantly larger scale in a different Ontario city.
• The Stop Community Food Centre: Toronto community food centre offering food access, gardening, and food skills programming under one roof. Closely comparable operating model to LCRC's Westview Garden + Grow Cook Learn combination.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/growcooklearnLCRC
• Instagraminstagram.com/growcooklearn
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/london-community-resource-centre

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about London Community Resource Centre