The Yorkton Friendship Centre has been feeding local children with their hot lunch program since August, but now they need help. The issue is with the protein for the meals they make, as the program is running very low on meat. They are putting a call out into the community to restock their meat supplies in order to continue running the program.
The program serves three hot lunches a week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, and has served over 2,000 individual meals since it began in August of last year says Darlene Langan, Executive Director of the Friendship Centre.
The program began when someone noticed kids were having difficulty finding food, some going so far as to dumpster dive, Langan explains. It started as a breakfast program over the summer, as she says it becomes more difficult for families to get meals in the summer when the schools are closed. The lunch program continued into the winter as they felt many kids still were having difficulty getting a hot meal on a regular basis.
The need for the program is also growing, Langan says, and they are seeing increasing numbers of kids as well as many new faces. She says that for many of the families they work with, it’s difficult to make ends meet, especially if someone is working for minimum wage or is on social assistance. She explains this is not enough to meet the basic needs for shelter and utilities, and food often gets cut back. The need is clear just based on how many people go through the doors.
“There have been times that we have had over 100 in one day showing up for lunch, which includes families.”
While they have had community support for many of the other ingredients, including major donations of eggs and potatoes from local farmers, Langan says that the real need right now is meat. As their goal is to give kids a balanced, healthy meal, she says that the protein is a big part of what they need for nutrition.
It’s also a versatile ingredient, and she says that whatever meat they get they have a plan to use it in wide number of different dishes. Nothing donated will go to waste, all meat will be used to feed local kids.
“We don’t let anything go to waste, we definitely put everything to use.”
She emphasizes that they do not want money, they just want the ingredients they need to continue cooking for kids.
“Without the continued support of the community, we don’t know how long we will be able to continue on with our lunch program to feed the hungry.”
Those interested in helping out can call the Friendship Centre at 306-783-2822.
