Food Hub sends load to James Smith Cree Nation

By Mark Ribble

The James Smith Cree Nation has been in the news since September 2, when a pair of brothers went on a stabbing rampage, resulting in the deaths of 10 other people on or near that First Nations Reserve.

Community members are still reeling from the senseless killing spree that rocked most of Saskatchewan as a four-day manhunt followed.

The Leamington Regional Food Hub, which usually sends fresh produce and other food items to the area, loaded up a semi on Friday, September 16 to send a truck specifically loaded for the James Smith Cree Nation.

“We want to help in every possible way,” said the Food Hub’s Director, Vern Toews. “Our volunteers have worked hard this week to make this happen.”

Vern Toews should know about hard work and about volunteers.

The Food Hub idea was spearheaded by Vern and his nephews, and was some six years in the making before the Food Hub opened with some fanfare in August 2021.

The idea behind the Food Hub is simple: using produce that would normally be discarded but still very fresh and viable, they would fill hampers and bins and ship them across Canada to help those less fortunate.

Much of the food shipped from the Leamington location makes its way to First Nations communities across the country. They ship to many food banks across Ontario as well.

Vern Toews has put in place a system — with the help of his production manager Len Janzen, volunteer co-ordinator Doug Doey and shipping manager Lawrence Grubb — that allows the food to get sorted and packaged by the vast array of community volunteers who give of themselves on a daily and weekly basis, then the trucks get loaded and shipped out.

About 150 volunteers have become involved in the process over the past year and there are routinely 18 to 20 on site each day at the Talbot Street West location.

“We’ve shipped over four million pounds of food out this year so far and should break five million by the end of the year,” said Vern.

The shipment to James Smith Cree Nation contained 16 skids of produce hampers brimming with peppers, cukes, potatoes, tomatoes and other items. The truck was also loaded with four large bins of apples, two bins each of onions, sweet corn and boxed cereal, and one bin of lettuce. An additional skid of canned tomatoes topped things off.

“This is also part of reconciliation with our brothers and sisters in the north,” he added.

Vern also says the Hub operates smoothly and is thankful for the volunteers.

“They make things go smoothly,” he says. “These people are wonderful for giving their time and effort.”

Friday’s volunteers included Paul Augustine, Tony Thoman, Lou Costa, Ron Durocher, Anne Mitchell, Eric McCort, Perry Basden, Dan Simone, Ron McDermott, Keith LeClair, Cheryl Le- Clair, Dan McGuire, Mike Rock, Sue Rock, Janice Gorrell, Doug Doey and Parker Renwick.

The Leamington Regional Food Hub partners with several organizations, including Daily Bread, Mississauga Food Bank, Food for Life, Harvest Hands, Waterloo Food Banks, Prince Albert Grand Council, Thunder Bay RFDA and Unemployed Help Centre Windsor-Essex.

If you’d like to volunteer, stop in at 451 Talbot St. West.

The Leamington Food Hub volunteers get ready to ship a load of fresh produce and other food items to James Smith Cree Nation on Friday, September 16. SUN photo