‘Transformational’ $500-K gift will allow Harvest Manitoba to expand capacity, CEO says

Manitoba Harvest is celebrating a $500,000 donation, which it hopes will help lay the foundation for a new food processing facility to accommodate an increasing number of people who rely on the food bank.

“It’s a transformational gift,” Vince Barletta, the non-profit’s president and CEO, said of the donation from Farm Credit Canada.

“Our facilities are at their capacity — really beyond their capacity — and now we’re looking to expand to meet the needs of today and moving into the future.”

Manitoba Harvest provides food for more than 100,000 people each month, including individuals, families and children supported through school lunch programs. Food-bank usage in the province has risen by more than 150 per cent since 2020 — a rate of growth that “far outpaces the national average,” according to the organization’s most recent impact report, released last week.

The money will be dedicated toward the construction of a proposed, 30,000-square-foot expansion that will increase Harvest Manitoba’s ability to process, store and distribute food that would otherwise go to waste, Barletta said.

The expansion could be added to Harvest Manitoba’s current facility at 1805 Winnipeg Ave., where it owns two acres of land. Another option would involve moving the operation to a different facility, he said.

“We’re in the process… of exploring that issue right now and we will know more, I hope, by Christmas about whether we’re staying or going,” he said. “We’re in conversations now with donors, with government. As announcements are ready to be made, we’ll make them.”

Barry Watson, Farm Credit Canada’s vice-president of corporate financing and senior accounts for Western Canada, said he hopes the financial gift will inspire other donors to provide support for the proposed expansion.

“Food should feed people, not landfills and, at the end of the day, that’s the problem we are trying to solve,” he said. “Winnipeg is a logistics hub for not only Manitoba, but for the Prairies.… Strategically, it’s a great investment to make because we are producers of a lot of surplus food.”

An estimated 1.2 million tonnes of food is wasted in Manitoba each year, Barletta said.

Manitoba Harvest reclaimed 8.7 million pounds of surplus food during the last fiscal year, according to the impact report. Barletta said the expansion will allow it to save another eight million pounds annually, if completed.

Most people who use the non-profit are located in Winnipeg, but a growing number of communities and schools in rural and northern Manitoba also rely on its services. Current estimates suggest another 10,000 people will require support from the food bank every month within the next six years, Barletta said.

“People continue to be squeezed by rising costs of just about everything,” Barletta said. “Getting this in the ground as soon as we can is the No. 1 priority, so that we’ve got the capacity and the infrastructure to serve those families. The need is huge.”

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca