THUNDER BAY – A harvest celebration and beef auction was held Saturday with proceeds going to support local and world-wide hunger relief programs.
Jason Reid, a member of a group of local farmers, says the group has been growing and harvesting crops for years to raise funds that go to the Canadian Foodgrains Bank.
“All over, in different countries where there's disasters, and floods, and starvation, they work on different projects in many different places all over the world,” he said.
“So, it's a project that goes on in many different farming communities across Canada, lots of different projects on the prairies growing greens and here in Thunder Bay, we've decided that we've got a very vibrant local food community and lots of farmers growing local food for our local food system here in Thunder Bay.”
Reid says that this year, in a partnership with the beef Farmers of Thunder Bay, instead of growing grain crops, the farmers raised four cows which were then later processed in a local processing plant.
“We've got them made into freezer packs and with the support of many businesses and local farmers, we've got this all done and ready to go for tonight,” said Reid.
“And tonight, is our harvest celebration of the year so we're getting together with all the different community members and businesses and churches from around the Thunder Bay area and we're going to have a big banquet and eat some of the beef that we produce this year.”
The farmers also auctioned off half of the packaged meat for families to take home with the other half going to local organizations, Teen Challenge and Grace Place.
“We're partnering with them to help them fill their freezers as costs of food go up and costs of keeping the people in their programs fed gets more and more expensive,” said Reid.
“So, we're producing local food and feeding local people and helping with local social issues here in Thunder Bay as well as the proceeds that we gained from the sale of some of the meat will go to the Canadian Foodgrains Bank to help support local food programs and hunger relief around the world.”
A total of roughly 3,000 pounds of beef was produced and other Thunder Bay businesses also donated various products to be auctioned off, including other types of meat, to support local and worldwide hunger relief programs.
