A day of action on March 27th challenges Canadians to think differently about local food

March 17, 2015 - PRLog -- Barrie Ontario's local food-tech start-up ei•ei•eat is uniting Canadians in a show of support for local food producers from coast to coast. The day of action coined “Spend10”, encourages individuals and groups to take a local food spending pledge at http://spend10.today and on Friday, March 27, 2015, spend $10 of their weekly budget on food or drink made of local ingredients.

ei•ei•eat, the group behind Spend10, is tracking the pledges by region and the activity generated on social media leading up to and on the day of action. The group intends to issue a report card on the money invested in local economies as a result of the initiative, which they hope other local food groups will get behind. “Spend10 is a fun way we can all come together and make a difference for local food businesses and our communities,” states Marcia Woods, ei•ei•eat's CEO and founder. “If 10% of Canadian households direct $10 of their weekly food budget to local food for just one day, we'll have put over $13 million into the local economy.”

ei•ei•eat is not alone in its view that $10 can make a difference. In 2011, Dr. Kevin Stolerick of The Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto, and Doug Vallery of Experience Renewal Solutions estimated that if Ontario households spent $10 a week on local food, we’d have an additional $2.4 billion in our local economy within a year and that with circulation, it would balloon to $3.6 billion and create 10,000 new jobs.

“Our hope is by creating awareness and a conversation around the economic, health and environmental benefits of local food, we can make Spend10 a weekly habit for Canadians,” Woods points out, adding “Most people think the option to eat locally is only available through the growing season but it's not a switch we should turn on and off. We have so many locally grown and produced products available year round, some of which we have listed on our web site at spend10.today.”

ei•ei•eat chose March 27^th as the day of action as it marks the final day of Nutrition Month and their own crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter, where their goal is to raise $30,000 from local food enthusiasts and food businesses to built the mobile version of their application. In return, they are rewarding supporters with everything from “Eat Local” T-shirts to in-app credits and gourmet dinners.

For local food facts and to take the “Spend10” pledge, go to h (http://www.spend10.today/)ttp://spend10.today. To learn more about ei•ei•eat or to support their crowdfunding campaign, visit http://kickstarter.eieieat.co (http://kickstarter.eieieat.com/)m (http://kickstarter.eieieat.com/).