In the fall of 2011, Bill DeBoer looked over the 100 acres of land that he and other local farmers had harvested and a smile crept onto his face. Together with about 20 community farmers, as well as local agribusinesses in the Lambton County area of Ontario, DeBoer had planted and harvested 70 acres of wheat and 30 acres of soybeans to help people in need. The proceeds from this project went towards CRWRC’s account in the Canadian Foodgrains Bank (CFGB), a partnership of 15 Canadian churches and church-based organizations working to end hunger in developing countries.
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In the fall of 2011, Bill DeBoer looked over the 100 acres of land that he and other local farmers had harvested and a smile crept onto his face. Together with about 20 community farmers, as well as local agribusinesses in the Lambton County area of Ontario, DeBoer had planted and harvested 70 acres of wheat and 30 acres of soybeans to help people in need. The proceeds from this project went towards CRWRC’s account in the Canadian Foodgrains Bank (CFGB), a partnership of 15 Canadian churches and church-based organizations working to end hunger in developing countries.
“This year we will be sending about $38,000 to the CFGB, and by the time the federal government adds its four to one grant, we are talking about nearly $200,000,”he said.
With this and other support, CRWRC will be able to continue its ministry of providing food and food security programming to communities in need. CRWRC’s involvement in CFGB goes back to CFGB’s start in 1983. In the late 1970’s some farmers in Manitoba decided to start a grain bank, where excess grain grown in years of plenty could be shipped to developing countries in times of need. The success of this project encouraged them to explore options for establishing a larger, inter-church organization.
The initial meeting was held in November 1982. Ten church-based agencies met to discuss the possibility of starting an intra-church food bank to respond to hunger. In April 1983, CFGB was launched with five founding members: Baptist Federation of Canada Relief and Development Committee, Canadian Lutheran World Relief, Christian and Missionary Alliance, the Mennonite Central Committee, and CRWRC. By the next year, they were joined by the United Church of Canada and the Pentecostal Assemblies of God church in Canada.
As with any new alliance, the start of the Foodgrains bank wasn’t easy. Initially, the CFGB members debated about the organization’s structure. Should all the resources be pooled, or should separate accounts be maintained for each participating member?
“This was an inevitable debate,” said Jacob Kramer, former CRWRC staff member. “It was natural for people to wonder what would happen with the money. The genius of CFGB, however, is that you have these different accounts. If you want to develop a deep ownership of CFGB, you have to allow for each member to have their own account. It changes how you view your stake in the CFGB psychologically. It’s not just another charity that people can support. It is part of your own organization. At the same time, there is room for churches to work together as one.”
As a result, CFGB evolved into a bank in the true sense of the word – with an account for each member that could be drawn upon to support disaster response and development efforts. The system allowed members to work together when goals and objectives were compatible, or individually when the need arose. Through generous contributions from the government of Canada, these funds were often matched by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) thereby increasing the amount of funding available in a time of crisis.
In the early days, CFGB was largely funded through donations of wheat. Farmers would grow their crop, take it to a local elevator or bagging site and receive a receipt for the grain contributed. Member agencies would then cover the costs to ship the grain overseas when needs arose. The first large effort was the response to famine in Ethiopia in 1984, to which CRWRC contributed the entire $50,000 of wheat from its account and an additional $200,000 that was taken from its program budget.
Over time, however, things shifted. While farmers do still grow and donate crops, CFGB members no longer ship Canadian grain directly to communities overseas. Instead, the money from the sale of the grain is used to purchase food as locally as possible, thereby minimizing transportation costs and boosting the local economy in recipient communities.
Another change is the birth of community growing projects like the one Bill DeBoer was a part of in Lambton County. The projects provide an opportunity for farming and non-farming neighbors to work together to plant, grow, and harvest a crop and then donate the proceeds to CFGB.
“As is so often the case, the greatest success of growing projects is that we at CFGB didn’t come up with the idea,” said Kramer. “People thought it up on their own. At a certain point we noticed that so many people were doing these community projects, and we decided to coordinate them and track the donations. By that time there were probably 40 or 50 projects going on across Canada. Now there are more than 200.”
While financial support for CFGB and its member agencies still comes from individuals and from church offerings, community growing projects are playing an increasingly large role. This is due in part to the ecumenical nature of the growing projects that mirrors the intra-church nature of CFGB itself.
“Our conception of church has a great risk of being too based on correct theology rather than how we follow Christ,” said Kramer. “Through growing projects, farmers from different churches work alongside each other for a shared goal, and they receive support from non-farmers in the community. That’s really what church is all about. I think that’s why CFGB has been so successful as well. It is part of the healing of our churches to be able to put our theology aside and work together to help others.”
Today, CRWRC continues to be a member of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. Since 1983, CRWRC has supplied 131,194 metric tonnes (146,937 US tons) of commodities through CFGB including:
- 95,235 metric tonnes of wholegrain cereals
- 11,217 metric tonnes of processed cereals
- 4,191 metric tonnes of oil
- 13,552 metric tonnes of pulses
- 2,770 metric tonnes of seeds
- 4,229 metric tonnes of other items
“That equals more than 13,000 truckloads of food,” explained Wayne de Jong, CRWRC Director of Disaster Response and Rehabilitation.
In total, CRWRC has provided $98.6 million (CDN) in aid through its CFGB account. This includes $81.9 million for food assistance projects, $9.4 million towards food security projects, and $7.3 million for nutrition projects. In addition, CRWRC has contributed financially towards projects of other CFGB member agencies, which are not accounted for in the $98.6 million.
“CRWRC is so blessed to be a member of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank,” de Jong concluded. “In the first moments after a disaster strikes, you need to be able to respond. There isn’t time to wait to raise funds and other necessary support. We couldn’t respond as quickly if we didn’t have our CFGB account. With that equity set aside and our partnerships with other member agencies, we are ready to respond as soon as the need arises.”