The Martensville Food Pantry (MFP) received a Community Development Funding Grant from Affinity Credit Union for $5000 on Wednesday, August 7th.
The Affinity Credit Union awards grants each year to special interest groups that apply to help with their programs. Members of the council go through applications and, based on what their needs are, determine whether they meet the criteria for the grants. Grants can be applied for each year. A high priority of their criteria is if it is a community event.
“We did a really good job of spreading it out quite a bit and there were probably over 30 recipients this year. Some asks were very minimal, certain organizations were high up on our list such as the food pantry, senior citizens, etc. who represent our community the best,” said Ron Gurski, Affinity Credit Union North Member Council.
MFP continues to help to provide food for families and individuals in Martensville and the surrounding area with weekly food hampers. A dedicated group of volunteers get together weekly to sort and package the hampers. They rely on donations which are made by people, businesses, organizations, schools and more.
Regular donations are made by Martensville Co-op and Save on Foods in Warman which include dairy items, frozen items and meat. The MFP is currently in need of non-perishables such as tomato sauce, pasta, rice, cereal, canned veggies, and lunch snacks.
Other ways they have received donations is the annual ‘Stuff the Trailer’ event put on by the Martensville & District Lions club which was again a successful event. They held a BBQ in front of the Martensville Coop and many donations were made from the community with items donated to fill up a trailer and received a hamburger/hotdog and drink in return. They have also been chosen as the recipient for Coop Fuel Good Days in September.
You can help support the Food Pantry in several ways individual donations, purchasing a Hunger Bag from Martensville Co-op, donating the money received from recycled cans and bottles at Sarcan Drop n Go in Martensville under the name ‘MFP’, or you can support them by purchasing items through the MFP Amazon Wish List which ships directly to them. The list can be viewed at https://www.amazon.ca/hz/wishlist/ls/19ZM88B64Q6M5?ref_=wl_share&fbclid=IwAR3IIJ2xk9r97VTc1E9VOJRZRAgwYRzOSiny7cVJC954KPB3xvIldevA150.
