The Saskatoon Food Bank’s milk program got a big boost Thursday afternoon from Cameco in the form of a $30,000 donation.
September is “milk month” at the food bank and the mining company’s hefty donation will help ensure children, pregnant and nursing women will receive a litre of milk upon every visit.
Food Bank Executive Director Laurie O’Connor says Cameco’s donation will go a long way in helping the organization meet its milk needs for the year.
“Over the course of the year we need to raise about $120,000 to cover the milk for children program and so $30,000 from Cameco and another helping hand from their employees makes a huge dent in that particular budget,” she says.
Cameco CEO Tim Gitzel says the company fully realizes the valuable work the food bank does in the community and is happy to help any way it can.
“Well you know milk is something that certainly young mothers and children need and we want to make sure that kids have the chance to have milk,” he says. “Among the other things the food bank provides a lot of important food sources but milk is really important so we thought this was a good one to get involved with.”
In addition, Cameco’s Saskatoon employees have launched their own “kids need milk” campaign which will see employees conduct fundraising activities this month to further help the food bank with its programming needs.
The Saskatoon Food Bank’s “milk for children” program distributes about 75,000 litres of fresh milk per year.