Late philanthropist, family fill Harvest’s Empty Bowls with record-setting $5-M donation

It was a record-breaking night for Harvest Manitoba made possible by a genuine Winnipeg hero and his family.

The organization’s annual Empty Bowls Celebrity Auction Dinner on Thursday raised $6.5 million to support Manitobans facing hunger and food insecurity.

And it was a $5-million legacy donation from late city philanthropist Doug Harvey and his family that will see the event go down in the history books as the largest gala fundraising total ever recorded in Manitoba.

“There was literally nothing that lit my dad up more than contributing himself, but even more so, inspiring others to give,” his daughter Lauren Harvey said Friday.

“This is the best way to possibly honour him, to give this huge legacy gift.”

Harvey, who died of cancer on Sept. 16, gave millions of dollars to Winnipeg organizations while he was CEO of DLH Group, a nationwide network of businesses that support heavy-duty truck and trailer users.

About 900 people attended the the event, which Harvey said she and co-chair Margaret Redmond put their heart and soul into, at the convention centre.

She said her father would have been thrilled with how many people “opened their hearts and their wallets” to contribute.

The huge donation will become part of the capital funding for Harvest Manitoba’s Food Transformation Centre.

Harvest president and CEO Vince Barletta said he is incredibly grateful for the gift, as demand has doubled in the last five years.

The new, $46-million facility will be named the Doug Harvey, Jan Shute and Family Manitoba Food Transformation Centre. It will serve as Harvest’s new home and will also reroute, store, process and distribute quality food that doesn’t make it to grocery-store shelves.

An estimated 1.2 million tonnes of food is wasted in Manitoba every year.

Shute, Harvey’s widow, said her husband hosted a few of Empty Bowl galas when she was on the event’s committee.

She recalled how he’d put people in the crowd on the spot — and the big screen — for a donation, a practice she said was tried and true.

“They had no choice, they were on screen, so they did,” she said with a laugh. “He made it such a fun evening.”

Shute said Harvey gave back to the community “because he believed in it.”

“I always called him ‘The Mayor of Winnipeg.’ He was Mr. Winnipeg. He was just so proud to be a part of this community and he felt we are a beautiful city to live in. We have everything to offer.”

The remainder of the more than $6.5 million raised as part of the celebrity auction will be used to support Harvest Manitoba’s annual operations.

morgan.modjeski@winnipegfreepress.com