CARSTAIRS/DIDSBURY - A number of farmers from the Carstairs and Didsbury area have helped out with the Canadian Foodgrains Bank (CFGB) again this year.
The organization gathers grain and donations that are sent overseas to help parts of the world in crisis.
"More than 600 Holdeman, Mennonite brethren and many community folk gathered for a fall supper and fellowship this year to celebrate the conclusion of this year's collecting of grains and donations for world relief, valued at $200,000," said Henry Goerzen.
A group of farmers, which included Holdeman, Mennonite and General Conference people, first contributed to CFGB in 1983, said Goerzen.
Other denominations have since joined the local operation in the Linden, Carstairs and Didsbury area.
"Back in Linden and area, the scattered groups that had existed were unified in 2003," said Goerzen, a retired farmer. "A 300-acre land plot has been made available from the C.C. Toews estate and become a community centrum.
Goerzen said that farmers can take their grain to an elevator, assign it to that central office and get credit for it.
"I have contributed hauling grain to town and say I'd like to allocate 50 or 100 bushels," he said. "Any farmer can do that."
Goerzen said he was working for Unifarm in the Carstairs area when he became interested in the program.
"One of those years there was just an awful lot of grain piled in heaps in the fields," he said. "The county councillor came up and said ëDo you know that North Korea is really in need of grain for food.'
"We couldn't get food into that situation. So we talked to representative for both the federal and provincial governments. They looked for a route for some of our grains."
After some red tape, Goerzen said they were finally able to come to an agreement in the 1970s and were able to export grain that was gifted to poverty-stricken areas around the world.
"That's when I was first involved," he said. "Once we were able to get into the system we got all these trucks ready, contacted the Holdeman people as well as the Mennonite church in Linden, the West Zion people and ourselves (Bergthal Mennonite) and got some grain hauled to elevators."
Goerzen said the grain was loaded onto train cars and sent to Winnipeg first and then abroad.
"There are now 13 different church denominations/agencies and several other relief agencies including Mennonite Central Committee that cooperate wherever they can," he said.
"It's grown. It's not based in the Mennonite church anymore, it's now a community effort."
