NEW DUO SET TO WORK WITH CANADIAN FOODGRAINS BANK
In September, Rick and Jacquie Block became Saskatchewan’s regional representatives for the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. They replace Dave Meier, who held the post for many years.
The Canadian Foodgrains Bank is a member-owned partnership of 15 churches and church agencies that work together to end global hunger. It is overseen by a board comprised of two representatives from each of the 15 member agencies.
“Canadian Foodgrains Bank is a Christian response to hunger with the goal of ending hunger globally,” said Rick Block. “It is rooted in social justice and humanitarian response to great need. When people hear ‘Christian response’ to hunger, many automatically think there’s an evangelistic component to the assistance. That’s not the Foodgrains Bank model. Its intent is to alleviate hunger and respond to situations where immediate food assistance is needed. We reach out because our shared humanity is struggling for a whole host of reasons.”
Block says well over a billion people globally are currently going hungry. Ironically, 70 per cent are farmers — the rural poor.
As regional CFB representatives, the Blocks will act on behalf of the Foodgrains Bank in Saskatchewan, bringing food assistance from this province to the world. Money generated goes to fund programs in 40 countries, primarily in Africa and Asia where there is extreme poverty and food insecurity.
Saskatchewan farmers have been involved with the Canadian Foodgrains Bank since its beginnings in 1976. “In 1976, farmers in Manitoba and Saskatchewan were looking at grain spoiling in their bins because of rail issues, and seeing on news footage of people elsewhere in the world starving,” Rick said. “They said, ‘This isn’t right,’ and began working with the Canadian Wheat Board to have grain donations from prairie farmers’ bins shipped directly to people who desperately needed it. The first shipment went to India in January of 1977.”
The CFB no longer ships prairie grain. Instead, there are two primary mechanisms for contributing. One is through growing projects where an individual, a group from a community, or sometimes a church will grow a crop, sell the grain, and donate the proceeds to the Foodgrains Bank. The people involved can specifically identify where they would like the dollars raised to go. There were 31 such projects in Saskatchewan this year.
“This is the classic example of farmers saying, ‘I don’t have a lot of cash, but if several of us band together, we can use a part of our land base to produce grain and donate the proceeds to support this organization,’ ” Rick said. “They are capitalizing on the fact that their land has potential to generate income.”
Often whole communities get involved. Local businesses donate input supplies such as chemicals and fertilizers or lend machinery.
Some locales hold Harvest Days when the crop is ready to harvest. “Typically, the group that’s leading the project will put out a call to the community to commit time and/or machinery to taking off the crop,” Rick said. “With enough people participating, a quartersection of wheat or canola has been harvested in a few hours. Groups will often host an appreciation dinner later in fall to thank everyone involved.”
There are other ways for people who are not farmers to raise dollars for the Foodgrains Bank. “People can organize fundraisers,” Jacquie said. “Maybe hold a concert, host an event, or a sports tournament. Food is often woven in, like bake sales. It’s people coming together in a spirit of community and being very creative and diverse.”
She says Harvest Days can take place in cities, too. Perhaps a church, youth group or a school has grown pumpkins and come together to harvest them.
“Maybe they’ll make pumpkin pies or jack-o’-lanterns to sell. Not all events raise a huge amount of money, but that’s not the point. It’s people working together because they have in common the recognition of the value of human life and the need to alleviate hunger.”
Rick adds, “Our role as CFB representatives is to support and encourage these community groups, offer ideas and guide them. We provide engagement and awareness of issues, as well as education. The Foodgrains Bank has educational study tours which give people the opportunity to learn about the issues that exist and where the donated money goes. The people come back with better understanding and become champions of CFB work in their community.”
The Foodgrains Bank will be hosting public promotional events in two locations later this fall. Consult the organization’s website for dates and locations at www. foodgrainsbank.ca
In the 2015-16 budget year, the Canadian Foodgrains Bank provided more than $43 million of assistance to more than one million people in 40 countries. CFB projects are undertaken with matching support from the government of Canada through Global Affairs Canada.