Your Impact: Thanksgiving 2024

As we celebrate Thanksgiving with family, friends, and ample food, it is important to remember those who are not able to share in God’s bounty in the same way. Those for whom food is too expensive, those who are experiencing homelessness, and those for whom Mission and Service was developed.

Food for the North, the Association of Economic and Social Development Santa Marta in El Salvador, and Indigenous Elders supported by the Chinook Winds Regional Council are among those who are thankful this Thanksgiving for the generosity of those who offer support.

Your gifts to Mission and Service make these initiatives possible. Thank you.

Food for the North

Many northern communities depend on ice roads to bring in supplies. In the past year, ice roads were less stable or even impassable due to climate change. Food needed to be flown in, increasing the price and decreasing supply. This has put even more pressure on northern communities; mental health and addiction issues have increased.

The Food for the North program provides grocery cards to help offset the extremely high food prices. Your gifts to Mission and Service fund this important initiative and provide nutritious food to those who need it.

A bag of grapes on a grocery store shelf.

A farmer shows beans harvested from her land

Supporting a Rights-Based Approach to Growing Food

The Association of Economic and Social Development Santa Marta (ADES), a Mission and Service partner, is located in an area of Central America that regularly experiences drought due to climate change. Mining projects threaten to negatively affect the environment and the people in the region. ADES and other community organizations act to protect the community’s right to a healthy environment and support local farmers.

Agroecology projects like the Dora Alicia Sorto School Farm provide training in agroecology, technical expertise, and indigenous seeds. It focuses on preserving the surrounding environment and on upholding gender and human rights as part of its approach to food security.

Food Security for Elders

For Indigenous Elders living on the Morley First Nation and in the Lethbridge area, it’s already hard to make ends meet, and rising food prices will make it even harder. Chinook Winds Regional Council delivers supermarket gift cards four times a year to help them buy food and other necessities.

This is just one of the many programs supporting Elders and those facing food insecurity. Mission and Service, through grants to Regional Councils, funds programs across Canada.