A new provincial program helping local shelters and food banks has officially kick-started.
Monday morning, Lt.-Gov. Anita R. Neville went to Winnipeg’s Agape Table, delivering over 300 pounds of non-perishable food items through the Sharing Hope Initiative.
She says donations like this are important — especially this time of year, “when people are in need and people are hungry and it gets cold out.”
Neville said the Sharing Hope Initiative was brainstormed last year after the province helped the Christmas Cheer Board when its budget was stretched unexpectedly thin.
“We gathered food on a temporary basis for the Christmas Cheer Board. After that was over, we brainstormed and tried to determine what we might do on an ongoing basis.”
After consulting David Northcott, known for his work with Winnipeg Harvest, and when the time came to start collecting for the initiative, Neville said cards requesting people donate to the Sharing Hope Initiative were put in every invitation going out from the Government House.
“We’re very pleased with the results we’ve had,” Neville said, adding that those who have donated “come from all walks of life, and everybody has been very thoughtful, kind (and) generous.”