For the tenth straight year, a group of southern Alberta farmers and community members gave up both time and money to help those in need. The Coaldale-Lethbridge and Community Growing Project seeded a crop of barley just outside of Coaldale on Tuesday that will later be donated to the Canadian Foodgrains Bank.
“You see it: the community just pulls together,” former Alberta Canadian Foodgrains Bank coordinator John Karsten said. “It’s just amazing. When we worked with Canadian Foodgrains, we went all over Alberta and there was nowhere you got turned down. The support is just awesome.”
This year, the Coaldale-Lethbridge Community Growing Project hopes to raise over $100,000. It may seem like a lofty goal, but since the group’s existence, they’ve already toppled the $1 million mark locally.
“The Canadian Foodgrains Bank will use this literally around the world,” volunteer Ed Donkergoed said. “They operate in over 30 countries in any given year. It involves projects from direct food aid, to teaching people to being self-sustaining.”
The group expects the crop to be ready to harvest as soon as late August, or more likely September.