To the tune of donating $22,000 in the first week of their Final Piece fundraiser for construction at their new facility located at 270 Fairford St. West.
The donation campaign started with a mail-out that was sent across the city last week. A total of $12,000 was raised from the public in the past seven days, and true to form, the Moose Jaw Kinsmen came forward with a further $10,000 to bring the total to where it sits today.
“It’s just a week in and we have a ways to go before we get to the $144,000, but what a great start,” said Jason Moore, program development manager at the Food Bank. “It just proves again that Moose Jaw is always willing to help out when there’s a need and they always do it so quickly and so graciously, it’s a great community.”
Seeing the Kinsmen step up in support of the food bank was no surprise given their continuous support of the organization over the years, but the massive generosity was still extremely appreciated.
“When groups like the Kinsmen Club -- who support not only our organization but so many organizations in our community --- step up and donate $10,000, that just gives you hope that this is super achievable and is going to happen,” Moore said. “So we have to give a big shout-out to them for their help, they’re always been incredible supporters and we can’t say enough about them.”
Following a fundraiser last summer that raised $118,282.99 to purchase a new, larger facility, the Food Bank decided to purchase the former Palm Dairies building across the street. Extensive renovations were required to the office area, in addition to the construction of a new lobby addition, which is where the current fundraiser comes into play.
The plan is to have the fundraising campaign completed and everything officially moved over by July 1.“We have a head start on the renos, and the guts have been done, now we’re just waiting on the city for the permits to move ahead with building and those should be here (April 20),” Moore said. “We’ve gutted the office area and put a new roof up there and we’re just waiting to build our addition in the lobby.”
This isn’t the first time in recent months that Moose Jaw has quickly moved to support the food bank. When the city opted not to waive landfill fees for their renovation, two local business jumped to their aid and covered the costs.
To support the Final Piece fundraiser, visit www.mjfoodbank.org and donate through the link at the top of their page or you can mail a check to 305 Fairford St. West.
