A joint effort of three local charitable organizations saw the fruits of their labour realized last weekend with a major shipment of soup and clothing heading out from Winkler to Ukraine.
The collaboration involved Southern Gleaners providing soup mixes, Faith Mission providing warm clothing, and Mission Eurasia arranging and paying for the freight and the distribution of the product at its destination.
Volunteers from the various groups gathered at Faith Mission in Winkler Dec. 13 load the container.
Representatives saw it as a wonderful story of cross-agency caring and partnership which put boots on the ground locally to meet needs half a world away.
“My heart has always said why does each ministry have to do all of their own thing? Why not do the things we do well in the areas where we’re represented and partner? And that is what this represents,” said Martin Harder, board chair for Mission Eurasia Canada. “I would just emphasize the generosity of our community … you see how big of an impact you can have around the world.”
“We are working together,” said Abe Janzen, chair of Southern Gleaners. “Many hands make light work is how the saying goes, and that’s happening here today. The Ukrainians are coming to ship product to their compatriots.”
From its headquarters in Reinfeld, Southern Gleaners takes unmarketable vegetables and dices, dehydrates, and packages them into soup mixes which are distributed to Christian mission organizations to feed hungry people both close to home and internationally.
“We salvage. We get vegetables that are not for sale … then the volunteers come to process those vegetables and make sure that whatever we produce is something that they would eat themselves, and then we dehydrate it and package it into a soup mix,” Janzen explained.
He saw this effort as a prime example of an opportunity to do something good and worthwhile and especially in the spirit of the Christmas season
There were 12 full pallets of soup loaded to be shipped out, and it was estimated each pallet had enough to provide 65,000 meals. From Winkler, the shipment was going to Winnipeg then to Montreal before being shipped overseas.
“Now in wintertime especially, the need is great,” noted Harder. “It’s so exciting to be able to work together.”
“The need is there,” agreed Jake Elias of Faith Mission. The Winkler-based non-profit accepts donations of used clothing and other items for those in need in Ukraine and former Soviet Union nations.
“We’ve been very blessed that we can ship their soup mix,” Elias said in praising the involvement of Southern Gleaners.
“We have had containers that have got [to their destination] in five weeks, which is amazing,” he added, noting a shipment sent out to Kyrgyzstan this past summer will arrive by Christmas.
“A lot of people see the need and see the devastating pictures of the war in Ukraine and just feel that they can help and want to help,” Elias said.
