Wednesday, November 25, 2009

More Empty Bowls Gala Photos...

The remainder of the photos from Winnipeg Harvest's Empty Bowls Gala have arrived:



Mort Walker display


Welcoming set at the doors into the Delta Hotel ballroom


Checking out the merchandise




Steve Vogelsang, the auctioneer in action.

Thanks again to everyone who helped make this event the success that it was!

Friday, November 13, 2009

Empty Bowls Gala Video



Thanks to Cindy Dandewich for making and sharing this video with us.

The Empty Bowls Gala

The 2009 Empty Bowls Gala was a huge success!

The event raised over $235,000, with the highest bidding bowl (Leonard Cohen's) going for $2,500.

The second-highest bids for bowls, belonging to Chef Michael Smith and Sir Elton John, went for $2,100 each, and the third-highest bids for bowls, belonging to Jordan Van Sewell (who made the ceramic piece, as well as decorated it) and Muhammad Ali, went for $1,800 each.

The night went off perfectly, and everyone enjoyed themselves, from the dinner of simple soups and breads to the auctioning of the celebrity-designed bowls.

Thanks again to everyone who made this night a complete success.



Elton John

Leonard Cohen

Mohammad Ali

Chef Michael Smith

Jordan Van Sewell

Singing For Supper


Come join Winnipeg Harvest on Friday, November 27 for the annual Singing for Supper concert.
The Evening of Song & Celebration includes music by Tom Jackson, Pear, and Shannon Gaye.

Friday, November 27, 2009 at St. Ignatius Church (255 Stafford St. at Corydon Ave.)
Tickets are $20 in advance, or $25 at the door.
Doors open at 6:15pm, show starts at 7:00pm.
Tickets are available from Ticketmaster at 780-7333 or online: http://www.ticketmaster.ca/

For more information, please visit: http://www.singingforsupper.ca/ or http://www.winnipegharvest.org/

All proceeds go to Winnipeg Harvest

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

CBC Manitoba + The Empty Bowls Gala

Read the article  that was posted on Twitter by @CBCManitoba:

Food bank auction raises $225K

By CBC News

Elton John, Neil Young, Muhammad Ali and Angelina Jolie were among the celebrities who provided specially decorated and autographed bowls to be auctioned off for a Winnipeg food bank.

Elton John, Neil Young, Muhammad Ali and Angelina Jolie were among the celebrities who provided specially decorated and autographed bowls to be auctioned off Tuesday evening for a Winnipeg food bank.

The celebrities weren't on hand for the Empty Bowls Auction, but their creations were, and when the bidding was done, the bowls helped raise $225,000 for Winnipeg Harvest food bank.

The top bid was $2,500 for a bowl donated by Leonard Cohen.

"The beauty of it is that ? every dollar donated can lever that amount 20 times [in food value]," said event co-chair Barry McArton. "So a quarter-million dollars turns into $5 million worth of food."

And the event cost Harvest nothing to put on, so everything raised goes directly to the food bank, he said.

"Everything's been donated ? all the food, all the courier services, all the staff for [the] event," he said.

The need for the food bank's services is constantly growing, McArton said.

There was a 21 per cent increase in people using Winnipeg Harvest in September 2009, compared to September 2008.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Bring a Tin for the Bin

Winnipeg Harvest collected 1,565 pounds of food at yesterday's Bombers game against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
We'll have the total number of pounds of food collected for the season up shortly.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Winnipeg Free Press Editorial

The following editorial was written by Larry McIntosh for Winnipeg Harvest. It appeared in the Friday, November 6, 2009 edition of the Winnipeg Free Press:




I am very honoured and proud to be involved with Winnipeg Harvest for over 14 years. It is truly an amazing organization that is kept running not only by donations of food and money but also by hundreds of thousands of volunteer hours with many of the volunteers being clients of the Food Bank.

I have come to learn that Winnipeg Harvest does a lot more than help those less fortunate with food. They also assist by developing and providing programs to help food bank clients in their journey to get out of poverty. Nobody wants to live in poverty and more often than not they have been struck by circumstances that could have happened to any one of us. It is really Programs to Help Food Bank Clients unfortunate in a country as rich as Canada that food banks are needed at all. It is sad that over 47% of food bank recipients are children and I can only imagine how hard it is to learn and grow when you are hungry.

Everyone hopes that one day the need for food banks will end and that their doors can be closed forever. However, until that happens, I am thankful every single day that Winnipeg Harvest is there to help our fellow Manitobans as they go through tough times.

About 3000 people a month no longer require support from Harvest and are replaced by new immigrants, EI recipients, the working poor, pensioners and those that have lost their jobs. Peak of the Market annually donates almost a 1,000,000 pounds of food each year to Harvest to help all Manitobans and is just one of the
many companies that support the work of Harvest.

Make a donation to the Empty Bowls and help
feed the children of Manitoba. Call 982-FOOD
or visit www.winnipegharvest.org.

Larry McIntosh is the President & C.E.O of Peak of the Market

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Winnipeg Harvest - Leave a Legacy

We are honoured that you would consider leaving your legacy of service to the community through Planned Giving to Winnipeg Harvest. We are a registered charity committed to sharing surplus food with people who are hungry, so your gift will go directly to help those who are most vulnerable in our community.

For more information, click here.
To view the Winnipeg Harvest Leave a Legacy brochure, click here.

Staples/Winnipeg Goldeyes Tools for Schools Drive



Here is a video clip of the Staples/Winnipeg Goldeyes Tools for School Drive media event on October 21, 2009.

Monday, November 2, 2009

October Team Member


Thanks again to the sailors of HMCS Winnipeg for volunteering at Winnipeg Harvest!

September Team Member


Congratulations Al French, Brian Janzen, and Rob O'Donovan on becoming the September 2009
Winnipeg Harvest Team Member of the Month.

(our apologies about the lateness of this post)