The international aid organization continues with its original mission, last year helping feed 1.1 million hungry people
Forty years ago, four wise men tried to find a Christian response to hunger.
From humble origins as the brainchild of John Weiler, Art DeFehr, Len Siemens and David Derksen, the Canadian Foodgrains Bank has become one of the most respected international aid organizations on the planet.
Related story: Praising the prairie origins of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank
But it hasn’t ended world hunger, despite decades of efforts by thousands of farmers and contributors, backing by governments and the efforts of committed staff.
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The world had 690 million people suffering from severe hunger in early 2020. COVID hit and that number surged to 828 million by 2022.
“Doesn’t it just get worse? Doesn’t it just make it almost impossible? Is there no hope?” foodgrains bank executive director Andy Harrington posed to a gathering of people celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank in Winnipeg, the charity’s home.
“Was it all worth it? Does what we do make a difference?”
To those anguished questions, felt by many Christians and supporters in the room and across Canada’s agricultural community, Harrington pushed back with an assault on the numbers and statistics that can enervate those who care.
Two years ago the foodgrains bank helped 938,000 people in 36 countries. Last year that leapt to 1.1 million. Each of those people matters.
“These are real people. These are real human beings alive tonight, breathing tonight,” said Harrington, who took over from long-time foodgrains bank executive director Jim Cornelius in 2020.
Over the years, the foodgrains bank has helped millions of people in dozens of countries, raising money through growing projects with farmers and local agricultural companies, with contributions from thousands of supporters throughout Canada.
That first meeting in Winnipeg, involving an entrepreneur, a member of the Mennonite Central Committee, the associate dean of agriculture at the University of Manitoba and an executive at Federal Grain, blossomed in following years, perhaps surprisingly so, in the light of Christianity’s deep divisions.
More than a dozen churches have formed the core of the foodgrains bank, bringing together everyone from the Seventh-Day Adventists and United Church of Canada to the Pentecostals and Alliance churches to the Anglicans and the Roman Catholics.
Schisms have existed in the Christian faith for centuries and many continue today. Yet within the foodgrains bank most factions have found a comfortable home.
“Throughout the world, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, miracles happen every day,” said Ken Kim, chair of the foodgrains bank’s board of directors, who summoned the memories of that first meeting of the four wise men in Winnipeg four decades ago.
“Our call is still ever-present. When we say ‘end hunger,’ we mean end hunger. When we say we’re a Christian response to hunger, what comes first? We’re Christians. We don’t lose hope.”
Gordon Janzen, the Manitoba and northwestern Ontario representative for the foodgrains bank, said God’s presence could be felt in the thousands of individual contributions and efforts he has seen in his area.
“God’s spirit is working in this community,” said Janzen, noting the 14,865 individual contributions from Manitoba and northwest Ontario to the foodgrains bank, amounting to $88.5 million, since 2000.
“That’s where I see God’s spirit at work, inspiring our collective response to hunger.”
