Vince Barletta: Manitoba Food Banks Weren't Supposed to Be Permanent

\When Harvest Manitoba opened in 1985, it was meant to be temporary. A stopgap for a rough economic patch. Today, they serve 1,200 families a day, and 30% of them have jobs.

Stuart Murray sits down with Vince Barletta, President and CEO of Harvest Manitoba, to talk about what that shift means, and what it would actually take to build a Manitoba where the food bank isn't a permanent fixture.

In this episode, Vince shares:

• Why 30% of people coming to food banks in Manitoba today are employed, and what that shift means for how we understand food insecurity
• Harvest Manitoba's journey toward indigenous reconciliation, including serving nine remote fly-in First Nations communities and a new indigenous-led urban food bank coming soon in partnership with the Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre
• The scale of Canada's food waste problem ($50 billion annually) and the Manitoba Food Transformation Centre Harvest is working to build

As Vince puts it: "It takes a province to feed a province."

Get Involved:

• Visit harvestmanitoba.ca to volunteer, donate, or learn more about partnering with Harvest Manitoba.
• Read Harvest Voices, Harvest Manitoba's annual community survey on food insecurity.