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Winnipeg Harvest nets $40-K donation

ScotiaMcLeod office comes up big

By: Geoff Kirbyson

Posted: 07/28/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Winnipeg Harvest�s David Northcott says ScotiaMcLeod�s $40,000 donation is timely, as summer is tough at the food bank. (WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

Winnipeg Harvest has received an unexpected -- and much-needed -- boost to its efforts to feed the city's hungry this summer.

The local office of ScotiaMcLeod, the brokerage arm of Scotiabank, has donated $40,000 to the food bank.

"It's a huge gift," said David Northcott, Winnipeg Harvest's executive director. "We celebrate donations of $10, $20 and $100. It's spectacular. ScotiaMcLeod coming to the table will help us run to mid-September."

By that time, the fall harvest will be underway and traditional donors, such as Peak of the Market, Manitoba Pork and grocery retailers, are expected to step up once again, he said.

Corey Johnson, branch manager at ScotiaMcLeod, said the money was raised at a recent adviser conference his office co-hosted in Chicago.

Mutual fund and life insurance companies that accepted the invitation to attend the conference were asked to donate a minimum of $10,000 to the hosts' charities of choice. ScotiaMcLeod's Regina and Saskatoon offices also served as hosts and donated $40,000 each to their own charities.

"We solicited the opinions of the 11 advisers in our office and we felt Winnipeg Harvest seemed to be in need of some capital. We all felt it was a very worthy cause. We wanted to keep it local and have an impact on the local community," Johnson said.

With demand for 5,500 hampers per week, Harvest is in perpetual shortfall mode, particularly in summer.

"We're always looking for high-protein items like soups, stews and canned meats. It's a meal-by-meal struggle," Northcott said.

Harvest can parlay every dollar donated into $20 worth of food. Northcott makes no bones about its methodology.

"We basically beg. We go to grocery stores and ask for dented canned food items, we get milk and cheese from Bothwell Cheese and Manitoba Pork donates pork. Begging is our key action as well as encouraging people to share. This province is very generous," he said.

Harvest needs $40,000 donations to become less of a rarity. According to its latest figures, it feeds 54,000 people per month, up nearly 19 per cent from a year ago.

"The bottom 20 per cent of society isn't doing very well in Canada. Almost half of the people we feed are kids."

In addition to financial donations, Northcott said Harvest also needs volunteers to help sort food, drive trucks and forklifts, work the phones and do tax returns for people.

"There's lots to do," he said.

geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 28, 2012 B3

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