It’s been a pretty good week at the St. Albert Food Bank, and it keeps getting better.
On Monday, the local community service agency received a provincial Community Initiatives Program grant for $54,562. That money will be used to develop the second floor area of the Community Village into meeting rooms, a classroom and outreach office space.
Three days later, executive director Suzan Krecsy was on hand when representatives from Farm Credit Canada showed up with another $20,000. This time, the money was directed to the Alberta Food Banks Network Association, whose main office was moved to the St. Albert Food Bank almost a year ago.
Farm Credit Canada is a major agricultural moneylender throughout the country.
Kris Reiniger, the executive director of the AFBNA, is thoroughly pleased with the donation — Farm Credit’s annual gift — but she just turns right around and distributes it along to the approximately 70 member agencies of the network.
“This donation represents many tummies being filled,” she said.
Neither Garnett Volk, the financial agency’s district director, nor Ruth Leman, its local senior relationship manager, downplayed the significance of the money, neither from where it came nor what it will be used for.
“This is probably our number one donation we make to rural Canada,” Leman explained. “The people who have used the program, used the food banks, they seem to be the ones that say, ‘Hey, you know what? Pay it forward. You were there when we needed it.’”
“A lot of our clients are in the agrifood business,” Volk elaborated. “When we tell them that we’re supporting food banks, it hits home in a hurry because that’s what they do: they grow food. It just resonates really well with them.”
She added that the money is actually more valuable than it seems because of food banks’ abilities to buy food in bulk for discounted rates.
“This $20,000 is going to buy $40,000 worth of food.”
To learn more about the food bank network, call 780-459-6893 or visit www.afbna.ca. The association is located at the St. Albert Food Bank and Community Village at #30, 50 Bellerose Dr., next to Canadian Tire.
