Hunger across the miles

Farmers and other Albertans are giving of their bounty so the less fortunate can have a little more.

For Medicine Hat farmer Charlie Redpath, it all started with the bumper harvest of 1981.

“We had a very good crop that year,” says Redpath. “We couldn’t store it all, so we went looking for someone who could use it.”

He found the fledgling Canadian Foodgrains Bank, a Winnipeg-based food aid organization founded by a number of religious groups. Twenty wheat crops later, he’s still involved with the Foodgrains Bank and more committed than ever.

“I like the idea behind the Foodgrains Bank and I like the fact that every contribution is matched fourto- one by the government, so your donation goes a long way.”

Alberta farmers are on side

Three years ago, the Canadian Foodgrains Bank received grain donations from 900 acres of farmland in Alberta. In 2001, that’s up to 3,500 acres, despite the fact that grain prices are making business conditions tough for farmers. Giving more in difficult times may seem like a contradiction, but farmers like Charlie Redpath understand.

“The harder a farmer has it, the more they donate,” he says. “They realize that even though times are challenging in farming right now, others are in life and death situations.”

Redpath is proud of the contribution he and other farmers are making and he knows it’s making a difference.

“Last year, we had a project to grow 70 acres of wheat,” he says. “Farmers and businesses donated everything necessary to grow the crop. The wheat we grew, combined with the government matching, was enough to feed 30,000 people in a developing country for one month.”

A view from Africa

The Canadian Foodgrains Bank ships grain to developing countries around the world. This past summer, for instance, a $3 million shipment of grain was sent to North Korea.

In Africa, the Foodgrains Bank’s on-ground operations are run by Sam VanderEnde out of Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. He sees every day the value that the organization brings to the 11 African countries in which it’s active.

“Our contribution to the food-insecure people of the world is a powerful symbol of compassion and neighbourliness,” says VanderEnde. “In global terms our impact on alleviating hunger is small. At a community level our impact is felt in the lives of individual households.

“The grain we donate is given by people in Canada that care enough to make a difference. Many people I have spoken to here on this continent have expressed their admiration and gratitude to Canadians. There is an almost mystical feeling that we are all organically connected to each other as sisters and brothers.”

For more information, visit the Canadian Foodgrains Bank website www.foodgrainsbank.ca.

Where food banks get their food

Ever wonder how Alberta’s food banks manage to stock a steady supply of food and offer people a balanced diet at the same time?

While some food is purchased with donated money, a major portion of food banks’ supply is donated by members of the food industry: from farmers to processors to distributors to retailers. According to Heather Hargreaves of the Calgary Inter-Faith Food Bank, it’s impossible to imagine how food banks could serve their clients without the help of the industry.

“We distribute about 200 hampers every day, so there’s a steady need for high-quality food,” says Hargreaves. “Last year, the $6 million worth of products donated by the food industry made a huge difference.”

Support takes many forms

Some farmer groups, like the Potato Growers of Alberta, make donations of food products straight from the field. Processors often call when they have excess production that can’t be marketed. Distributors like Versa and Bridge Brand kick in regularly. And retailers work with food banks in a variety of ways.

“All the large food retailers are big contributors,” says Hargreaves. “That includes Safeway, Co-op, IGA and Save-On Foods. They provide facilities for people to make a food donation and they donate fresh goods all the time – from baked goods to milk to meat to eggs.”