Hunger in Moose Jaw (HiMJ) is a community-based charity organization whose signature effort provides free nutritious lunches for over 350 children in schools throughout Moose Jaw. Other HiMJ initiatives offer educational programming and affordable nutrition.
“We don’t deliver daily lunches during the summer, but we will be starting up again after the long weekend in September,” said Sharla Sept, executive director of HiMJ. “We’re already receiving requests for those, so we encourage parents who are interested in that program to talk to their child’s school during the first couple of days back to get an application.”
The program to feed children in school who might otherwise not have access to a nutritious meal during the school day dates to 1993. HiMJ receives some government funding to continue that project, but the largest portion of their monies comes from community donations — private and corporate.
“We’ve been well-supported this summer,” Sept confirmed. “We’re anticipating a good year, but we are also doing our own fundraising events to help with that.”
The annual Burns & McDonnell charity golf tournament, held this past August 5th, selected Hunger in Moose Jaw as its beneficiary this year. The cheque presentation is September 7.
Another business supporting HiMJ is Monkey Bars Indoor Play Centre, which is donating $2 per admission sold from August 26 to 28.
HiMJ has two of their own fundraisers in September: Fall into Fabric and the Pumpkin Harvest Festival at the community garden on Grey Avenue.
“We run our annual fabric sale at Zion Church, on (September 10) from 9 to 3, and 100 percent of those profits come back into the child lunch nutrition program,” Sept explained.
The fabric, sewing machines, and other craft supplies sold at Fall into Fabric are crowding Sept’s office already, she said. Everything comes from community donations.
“Then, our annual Pumpkin Festival is September 24th, 10 to 2 at the Grey Avenue gardens,” Sept continued. “We’ll have quite a few different activities there. That’s an annual event we’ve done for many years.
“We’ll be doing our chili and hot dog lunch by donation, we have kid’s activities and a farmers market, and we’ll be putting out some information soon about our first-ever baking silent auction at the Pumpkin Festival.”
HiMJ was forced to raise prices for their Good Food Box this year, but Sept said the community has been understanding. The Good Food Box (GFB) is available to the general public, packed by volunteers, and contains quality fruits and vegetables. The cost of a family-sized box is now $25, the small GFB is $20, and the fruit bag is $15.
The organization ran their Junior Chef and Community Kitchens during the summer for the first time — and classes were completely full.
With the addition of a Youth Cooking Program in May, HiMJ now offers simple, nutritious cooking education for ages 9 to 12, 13 to 18, and for adults. They also teach participants how to shop on a budget, basic hygiene, and healthy snack options.
Contact information for each of their programs and for volunteer opportunities is on the HiMJ website at hungerinmoosejaw.org/programs, or follow them on Facebook at facebook.com/hungerinmoosejaw.
