PREECEVILLE, Sask. — The Assiniboine River Hope Mission is a movement of people helping people to bring freedom from hunger and hopelessness.
“A statement we have adopted as our goal/mission/purpose is to alleviate hunger today and eliminate it for the future. We pursue this through giving of ourselves and being good stewards of the incredible generosity of our communities. It is our joy to believe and live that it is more blessed to give than receive,” stated Brad Steppan, a member of the mission.
“We rely solely on donations (no government help), and there always seems to be ‘food in the pantry’ to help others.
“We want to thank everyone in our service area who has been so generous each year to make our weekly food hamper program such a success. Each week during the winter months, we are giving out four to five food hampers,” said Steppan.
“It is time for our Christmas Food Hamper program. The program reaches everyone living in and around the communities we serve. Our service area includes all those living in and around Buchanan, Endeavour, Hazel Dell, Hinchcliffe, Ketchen, Lady Lake, Okla, Preeceville, Rama, Rockford, Stenen, Sturgis and Usherville.
“The committee is a group of local volunteers (no paid positions) who have organized to bring needed help to our surrounding communities. We are 100 per cent donation-based. We rely on the community's generous donations that fully go towards the hampers.
“We have been in existence since the 1990s, and our mission has never wavered! We advertise/promote in our communities so people in need of food can reach out to us confidentially and find relief from hunger. We function throughout the year, delivering emergency hampers on a weekly basis with a special ‘push’ at Christmas, when ‘Christmas Hampers’ are delivered along with gifts and teddy bears! Our donors are incredible. Individuals, groups, businesses and churches donate non-perishable items, perishable items (e.g., ground beef, eggs), monetary gifts, children's gifts and teddy bears.
“This mission goes nowhere without incredibly generous people.
“We want to thank the Gateway Co-op for the donation of the use of the former Co-op building to work/serve out of. The much-needed space for sorting and storage has been a huge asset. It triples the space we had, and we now have an office space, room for a fridge and freezer and lots of space on shelves to store and prepare the hampers.
“This allows us to keep the vast majority of monetary donations strictly for food distribution.
“The mailing address is Assiniboine River Hope Mission, Box 726, Preeceville, Sask., S0A 3B0. We now accept e-transfers or cheques as a form of financial donations.
“Please continue to be the incredibly generous and compassionate people you have all been for so many years with this program. Moving forward, we are looking forward to continued support in feeding the hungry, one step at a time,” concluded Steppan.
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