MINDEMOYA—Manitoulin Family Resources (MFR), formerly known as Haven House, has been providing shelter for abused women and children since 1984 and a year later added food, clothing and household goods for people starting over in new places of residence. Volunteers such as Eileen Pyette and Bert Hill helped with the sorting of donations in the shelter and providing clients with clothing, groceries and furnishings as they left Haven House.
Over the years, MFR has expanded with many more programs offered including an emergency food bank which was established in 1989 and the purchase of a port-a-room shortly after to be used as the Community Help Centre to provide low cost clothing and goods for everyone. As demand grew for food hampers, coupled with generous donations from Islanders, the new building became cramped and crowded and several years ago MFR announced a fundraising initiative towards securing a bigger building for the food bank and thrift store, now dubbed Treasures.
It didn’t take long for the MFR volunteers to jump on the fundraising bandwagon with several events including yard sales, barbecues, fish suppers and luncheons held to raise monies for a new building while MFR previous Executive Directors Andrea Smith and Eleanor Charlton secured funds for the capital campaign from Food Banks Canada, the Ontario Trillium Foundation, the United Way of Sudbury and Nipissing Districts, The Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation, Manitoulin Transport, the Sprott Foundation and Farm Credit Canada. The end result was the new food bank and thrift store building that was officially opened on November 19.
The weather didn’t keep a large number of people from attending the ceremony at the new building including Central Manitoulin Mayor Gerry Strong, long term MFR Board member and President Les Fields, acting Vice-President for the MFR Board of Directors Elly Charette, incoming Central Manitoulin Mayor Richard Stephens and VICARS representatives as well as MFR staff and support workers and volunteers. Member of Parliament Carol Hughes and Member of Provincial Parliament Michael Mantha were unable to attend the opening, but sent letters of congratulations to the staff and volunteers of MFR and also to the community at large. “The wide ranging nature of generous support serves to instill a sense of pride and independence for all,” Mr. Mantha wrote. “As a result, friends and neighbours are better situated to make positive choices to promote the development of healthy families.”
Ms. Hughes also spoke of the support of community while lamenting how unfortunate it is that food banks are needed in a country as blessed as Canada. “We acknowledge,” she wrote, “that it is testament to the strength of community on Manitoulin Island that, as a need is identified, it is met with planning and action.”
Mayor Strong also acknowledged the help of Islanders as well as MFR. “I congratulate the board, staff and all the volunteers and all the hard work they do,” he told The Expositor, “and acknowledge the strength and compassion of our community in supporting the food bank and thrift store.”
Help Centre Project Manager Nancy McDermid spoke at the ceremony and had praise for the MFR volunteers, Help Centre Assistant Project Manager Katie Arsenault for her commitment to excellence on the job and for those involved with the construction of the new structure saying, “I have the pleasure of working with our current group of volunteers on a daily basis and it is with great pride that I speak of their efforts. Our Help Centre building project manager Shane Desjardins has donated countless hours to overseeing the project. We wish to sincerely thank him for his dedication to bringing this project to completion. This grand building was designed by Ian Whittington of Whittington Engineering Limited and we thank him for his vision and expertise. Mike McKechnie and his wonderful staff at the Mindemoya Home Hardware have been very knowledgeable and helpful throughout the entire process and we thank them for their support. Adam Smith and his attentive staff at Jake’s Home Centre deserve our sincere accolades as well. We would also like to thank the Central Manitoulin Township for their continued support of our food bank. Lastly, we wish to say a very special thank you to Steve Hill of Hill Property, our contractor, along with his amazing team. Steve and his crew went above and beyond in building our new Help Centre and, as you can see, the building is functional as well as aesthetically pleasing.”
MFR Executive Director Marni Hall Brown also spoke at the grand opening ceremony and remarked that the MFR agency is marking a 30th anniversary with an expansion of services over the years and a new milestone with the expanded Help Centre.
The MFR food bank serves 300 people who use the facility monthly—half of those helped are children. Christmastime is often any food bank’s busiest time of year, and the same can be said for Manitoulin.
Donations of food, cash and gifts are welcomed for the food bank’s ongoing efforts, all year long.
The Help Centre is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 10 am until 2 pm and Wednesdays from 7 to 9 pm. The phone number is 705-377-4444.
by Betty Bardswich
