Regina Food Bank announces collaboration with Sask. farmers to fight food insecurity
Regina Food Bank announced a new collaborative effort with Saskatchewan farmers that will help them feed more families in the city. The food bank is working with Viterra to hand out more than 200,000 bags of pulses to food insecure clients annually.
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Posted: May 05, 2021 5:11 PM CT | Last Updated: May 5
These vehicles will be used to deliver pulses for the Viterra Farmers Feeding Families project.(Regina Food Bank)
REGINA The Regina Food Bank and Viterra have launched an initiative to use Saskatchewan’s agriculture industry to provide food insecure families with more food options. The initiative, called ‘Viterra Farmers Feeding Families,’ will see Viterra invest $225,000 to purchase and process pulses from farmers, to donate to the Regina Food Bank. The pulses will be processed at the food bank. Regina-based Canmar Food Product will then package the pulses into approximately 200,000 bags annually. Viterra said the federal government has invested $200,000 into the initiative, which will be used to purchase a new fleet of delivery vehicles for the Regina Food Bank.
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COVID-19 has had a significant impact on the number of people using the services of the Regina Food Bank, but a partnership with Viterra is expected to provide help.
“I think COVID has really put a stress test to how healthy our economy is, and I think a lot of the folks that we’re seeing especially that increase are folks that maybe never saw themselves as being potential food bank clients and are now actively using us in a way that supports what they do,” said John Bailey, CEO of the Regina Food Bank, on Wednesday. “So I think COVID had been a real driver of a lot of it.”