The Canadian Foodgrains Bank’s postage bill just got bigger.
“We used to send stuff to 10,000 to 12,000 churches,” said Heather Plett of the charitable organization.
“Now we’re up to 17,000 churches. It’s a pretty huge jump.”
The bank won’t be complaining about the extra cost of stamps. Each of those thousands of new Anglican and Roman Catholic churches that have joined the organization will likely raise money for the bank’s projects.
And the Christian organization is now receiving an extra 25 percent funding from the federal government.
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Manitoba Conservative MP and Treasury Board minister Vic Toews lauded the charity when he made the funding announcement July 19 at a crop project in St. Pierre Jolys.
“I believe organizations like the Canadian Foodgrains Bank go to the very heart of Canadian values,” said Toews.
“Canadians are deeply concerned about the millions of people suffering from hunger and malnutrition today….
“Many Canadian families are only a generation or so away from starvation itself and I include my own family in that, my father being subject to famine in south Russia as he was growing up and before he came to this country as a young, young person.”
The federal funding, through the Canadian International Development Agency, moves up from the previous $16 million per year cap to $20 million. The CIDA funding agreement lengthened to five years from three years. CIDA money is provided at a four to one ratio: every $1 of donations brings in $4 of federal money.
Foodgrains bank executive director Jim Cornelius said money and growing projects on Canadian farmland do more than alleviate hunger; they help impoverished people create more sustainable farming systems for themselves.
“It means providing food to drought-affected people in Kenya, while at the very same time supporting the construction of sand dams to reduce vulnerability to drought,” said Cornelius.
“It means providing food to chronically hungry households in Bangladesh while at the same time supporting efforts of the poorest households to improve their livelihoods with micro-credit loans, with support for small scale livestock production and various other activities.”
In June the Anglican Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund and the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace joined the Foodgrains Bank.
That alone won’t give the charity much more money, since the national church organizations don’t generally make lump sum donations. But it allows thousands of new parishes to join with the charity to raise food and money.
“This makes the Foodgrains Bank one of the most unique ecumenical organizations not only in Canada, but in the world,” said Cornelius.
