Moose Jaw Co-op Food Store has teamed up with SaskWater to launch Project Shine for the month of August, with donations matched up to $5,000 to benefit the weekend lunch program operated out of St. Aidan Anglican Church.
The campaign launches Aug. 1 at the Co-op Food Store tills.
“Our lunch project was a response to COVID, and we serve lunch on weekends, just bagged lunches from the door,” explained Nathan McLean, who helps co-ordinate volunteers for the program.
“COVID is behind us now, but we’ve seen the need in the community and decided to continue on. We’re 100 per cent driven by volunteers. ... We have, I think, eight different teams on a rotation. Depending on the season, they’re serving between 30 and 70 lunches each day for folks on the street and in our community.”
All the funding for the program comes from grants, donations, and anything extra that can be scraped from the church’s budget, McLean said. During the summer, the lunches are available on the steps of St. Aidan from 10 to 10:30 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. The program supports anyone in the community who is struggling with food insecurity.
“Michaela Turner is a good friend of mine, and we hold very similar positions, her at the Co-op and myself at SaskWater,” Courtney Mihalicz said. Mihalicz is the corporate communications manager at SaskWater, headquartered in Moose Jaw, while Turner is the Co-op’s local community relations manager.
“Part of our roles is to manage our organizations’ community investment or sponsorship programs,” Mihalicz continued, “and we were discussing that we had both received a request to support the weekend lunch program, and we started to brainstorm how we could work together on it. That’s where we came up with the till campaign, and from there our campaign name of ‘Project Shine,’ with the aim to strengthen, unite, and nurture our community.”
“At Moose Jaw Co-op, we believe that everyone deserves access to nourishing meals," said Geoff Anderson, general manager of the Moose Jaw Co-op. "Unfortunately, not everyone has this privilege, and that's where the Weekend Lunch Program comes in.
"This vital program operating out of St. Aidan Church provides healthy sandwiches to individuals in need every Saturday and Sunday, ensuring they receive proper sustenance and a sense of support during challenging times.”
SaskWater and Co-op will collectively match all member and customer donations at the Food Store tills in August up to $5,000.
“This is huge. We wouldn’t be able to do the lunch program without outside funds and support,” McLean said. “In fact, we just received what you might call some bridge financing that will get us through to the fall, and then, well, we don’t know, right?
“So, to have this support from these community organizations means a lot.”
“The Co-op is a leader in community support and SaskWater is so happy to be part of that foundation, to make a difference in the community where so many of our employees live and work,” Mihalicz said.
“This allows us to join forces and leverage additional support for this initiative in particular, but also to build something long-term in the form of an annual campaign with the aim of supporting initiatives aimed at food scarcity and the needs of the unhoused in our community.”
The Weekend Lunch Program team are always hopeful for more volunteers for their program. With more volunteer teams, each team’s obligation becomes less — potentially only every couple of months.
“We’d love more volunteers,” McLean said. “One caveat is that it’s a lot more helpful for us if people can form their own teams. Two to three people per team is the usual, and then we can just slot them right into our rotation, instead of trying to find a place for them on an existing team.”
To volunteer, call or text Nathan McLean at 306-531-2241.
