Food for All Community Lunch On May 24th, over 425 people attended and enjoyed a pasta lunch at the Roma Club in Leamington. It was the SWO Gleaners’ first fundraiser since the pandemic began, and it was a great success! Thanks to sponsorships and donations, over $30,000 was raised to go toward increased production of our soup mix for Ukraine.
Ukraine Response The SWO Gleaners was able to send 14 skids (over 500,000 servings) of dried soup mix to Ukraine and Poland in March. Partnering with Loads of Love Humanitarian and Aid Agency, we were able to send out product in response to the crisis in that area. We pray for a peaceful end to the war and stand by
We are happy to partner with the Diocese of London’s Migrant Worker Program to give soup mix to many of the migrant workers who have come to our area and around Southwestern Ontario. 1500 bags of soup mix will be distributed through St. Michael’s here in Leamington, and in welcome packages in surrounding counties. Thank you!
To our valued supporters, With our deepest gratitude, we thank you for your support over the past calendar year. As 2021 quickly comes to an end, we want to acknowledge our staff, volunteers and donors who have contributed to our mission of feeding hungry people. The past two years, COVID-19 has affected everyone, including the SWO Gleaners. Despite being closed
Through our distribution partners, dehydrated vegetable mix and apple snacks are shipped to food agencies around the world. We are grateful that surplus produce from Southwestern Ontario can be used to aid people both locally and internationally. List of Distribution Partners, amount donated from SWO Gleaners and location of shipments: Canadian Food for Children – 882,000 servings to Central America
On October 15/16, the eleven different Rotary Clubs of Windsor-Essex participated in their 3rd annual 24 Hour Gleanathon at SWO Gleaners. Each club brought volunteers for a 2-hour shift from 4 pm Friday to 4 pm Saturday. During this time Rotarians packaged 180,000 servings of vegetable mix and processed 80,000 servings of dried carrots. A raffle was held and $1270
HL Tiessen Foundation Grant The SWO Gleaners was one of four local charities that recently received a grant from the HL Tiessen Foundation. The Foundation hosted a charity golf tournament earlier in the year and proceeds from that event went to the SWO Gleaners and three other local charities. We are so grateful that we are recognized as worthy recipients.
The SWO Gleaners organization was one of five organizations that recently received a grant from the Honey Family Foundation Fund. The Southwestern Ontario Gleaners was awarded $10,000 to help them support food security in Essex County. The funding will be used to purchase supplemental ingredients such as split peas, lentils, and barley. This will serve to further the nutritional value provided
Summer News This summer, the SWO Gleaners is fortunate to have four student summer job placements through Canada’s Summer Jobs Program. Having 4 extra employees for 8 weeks allows us to produce more dried food, and helps fill gaps in vacation time for staff and regular volunteers. We have a good group of guys this year. Thank you, Noah, Miguel,
COVID-19 continues to slow our usual rate of production. Nonetheless, we feel fortunate that despite this, we were able to distribute over 2.8 million servings of dehydrated vegetable mix and apple snacks to local and international food aid agencies in 2020. In 2021, so far, 650,00 servings have been distributed and we expect this number will increase substantially as the
