This week, the Community Foundation of Lethbridge and Southwestern Alberta announced $138,500 in grants to 30 organizations, including support to southwestern Alberta’s food banks and Meals on Wheels programs.
Just over half of the grants come from the Community Foundation’s unrestricted funds, which are a result of private, unrestricted donations given generously by supporters of the Community Foundation over the past five decades. The remaining grants are from the Henry S. Varley Fund for Rural Life, which was established from a bequest by Pincher Creek-area rancher Bill Long and named to honour the memory of his uncle. This fund supports organizations that work to sustain a high quality of life for residents of rural southwestern Alberta.
The decision to award these grants came about from multiple conversations with the staff at local food banks and Meals on Wheels programs, all of which shared the same message: “A tremendous increase in demand for services and concerns about the ability to meet that demand.” As a result, the Community Foundation Board of Directors voted at its November meeting to proactively award these one-time grants in support of local food security.
“We are absolutely thrilled to be able to provide this additional support to our community this year,” says Charleen Davidson, Community Foundation executive director. “The Community Foundation was established to be a permanent source of financial support to our charitable sector and to help build a healthy community. We acknowledge we are in a position to provide our community with extra financial support right now and we feel incredibly fortunate to be able to address food security through these grants, especially during the holiday season.”
According to Jodi McDonnell, the operations manager at the Lethbridge Senior Citizens Organization, their Meals on Wheels program delivered over 23,000 subsidized nutritious meals to homebound seniors and individuals across Lethbridge last year. The LSCO sees the impact of rising food costs on their seniors and note it often results in clients ordering fewer meals. Because 90 per cent of their clients receive income and disability supports, they cannot raise the cost of their meals. “We are deeply grateful for the support of the Community Foundation in recognizing the urgent need for food security within our community.”
The Lethbridge Food Bank also expresses its gratitude for the additional support, citing this as a particularly challenging year. “At this time of year, a donation like this is appreciated, as we work to provide Christmas hampers for our clients,” says Emily Beilby, the LFB’s office and donor administrator. “This year, this donation will have an even larger impact, as we are working against a lot of factors. We don’t normally want to highlight the struggles, however this was a year where food abundance did not exist, a postal strike threatens to impact our cash donations, government funding to our Mindful Munchies Program (where we provide 3,000 lunches a week to Lethbridge schools) was redirected and the need is greater than it ever has been. The silver lining is the Community Foundation was able to see this need in our own community and chose to support us, so we can continue to support those facing food insecurity.”
These grants are in addition to the grants the Community Foundation has already awarded in 2024, as well as the grants it will be supporting in December through its fall and winter grants program.
The following are food banks that received support: Coaldale Community Food Bank, Crowsnest Pass Food Bank Society, Epic Youth Food Bank in Cardston, Fort Macleod Salvation Army Food Bank, Interfaith Food Bank Society, Kainai Food Bank Society, Lethbridge Food Bank Society, Lethbridge Polytechnic Students’ Union Food Bank, North County Interfaith Outreach Society Food Bank in Picture Butte, Pincher Creek and District Community Food Centre, Taber Food Bank Society, University of Lethbridge Students’ Union Food Bank, Vauxhall and Area Food Bank Society and Veterans Food Bank Society in Lethbridge.
The following are Meals on Wheels programs that received support: Cardston Meals on Wheels, Coaldale Meals on Wheels, Fort Macleod Meals on Wheels, Lethbridge Senior Citizens Organization Meals on Wheels, Picture Butte Meals on Wheels, Pincher Creek Meals on Wheels, Raymond Meals on Wheels and Taber and District Housing Foundation Meals on Wheels.
