Charlene Claeys-Godard, operations manager of food security program Sara’s Pantry, had long wanted to help those struggling to feed their families.
Her grandparents had little money when they arrived in Canada, she said, but the kindness they found in their new community helped them find their feet, even though it was the ‘30s and nobody else had much either.
“That was one of the factors that inspired me to proceed with Sara’s Pantry,” she said.
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In January 2021, with the help of Westoba Credit Union, the program launched. For the last three years, it has supplied biweekly food hampers around Cypress River, Stockton, Baldur and Glenboro.
After receiving one of this year’s Ag Days Gives Back community grants, the non-profit has another $2,000 to work with.
The money will help them provide more of their top-10 requested items, Claeys-Godard said — things like peanut butter, tuna, canned fruit and vegetables, pasta, rice and tomato sauce.
Why it matters: Ag Days Gives Back handed out $50,000 to local organizations and students at this year’s show in Brandon Jan. 16-18.
The grant comes during a time when more people need their service, but it’s harder to meet those needs.
When they first started, Claeys-Godard said, their client list might have spanned four to eight households. Today, they’re regularly visiting 15-20.
“We serve the elderly, who are living on a fixed income, which, for them, is really, really hard, because their income doesn’t go up according to cost of living.”
Other families have parents that “are both working, but have trouble making ends meet.”
For their own part, it’s been a challenge to send out as much as they once did, despite what Claeys-Godard describes as excellent support from local businesses.
“What we could once get for a dollar back in 2021, we can’t do that,” she said. “It probably costs $1.25 or $1.30. That 30 cents doesn’t sound like a lot on an individual level, but when you purchase in bulk such as we do, 30 cents is a lot.”
Ag Days Gives Back
The food service program was one of a long line of non-profits and community organizations to get a boost from Ag Days this year.
Ag Days Gives Back, the philanthropic arm of Canada’s largest indoor farm show, gave away a total $50,000 at the 2024 event.
Funds were handed to 17 community groups (including Sara’s Pantry). Three students bound for ag-related education or training also got grants, as well as Ag in the Classroom Manitoba, which received $10,000 for its operations.
Community and student grant recipients each received $2,000 during the Ag Days Gives Back presentations Jan. 16.
“We’re in the second decade of investing into our communities and that’s an exciting milestone for the program,” committee chair Hannah Minshull said in the lead-up to the show.
It’s a substantial boost from previous years. Last year the program handed out $29,000, including $10,000 that, again, went to Agriculture in the Classroom Manitoba. The program split the remainder into eight $2,000 community grants — all handed to local fire departments to dovetail with the year’s theme: health and wellbeing, and three student grants worth $1,000.
The value of those student grants was doubled this year.
There was also no caveat on which community organization types were eligible, Minshull said.
“This year we didn’t target a specific community group. With the expansion of the grant program, we wanted to expand our reach to any community not-for-profit organization that needed our support…”
Minshull cited an increased wave of public support for the expanded 2024 program. Ag Days Gives Back is funded by 50/50 sales, she noted.
2024 recipients
As well as Sara’s Pantry, recipients ran the gamut from local sport organizations to ag societies, municipalities and three fire departments — St. Jean Baptiste, Neepawa and the RM of Norfolk Treherne. Other social services, like New Beginnings Daycare in Ochre River and the Westman Mental Illness and Suicide Prevention Association, also got support.
On the sporting and recreational side, grants were awarded to Arborg Minor Hockey, the Grenella Curling Rink, Ste. Rose Recreation Commission, Erickson District Recreation Association and the Ste. Rose Hoof ‘N’Holler Days.
Three community centres — Roseland South in Brandon, Oakburn and Torquay — received grants, as well as the RM of Mossey River, Hanover Ag Society and Cypress River Ag Society.
The Agriculture in the Classroom contribution, meanwhile, has become a consistent item of note for Ag Days Gives Back. The organization brings agricultural outreach to students across Manitoba. In 2022, according to their website, AITC-M reached 437 schools, 179 of which were inside Winnipeg, and had 28,580 students registered with their programs.
