The Sheep River Health Trust will be using money it receives from Western Wheel Cares to help feed hungry students throughout the Foothills.
The Okotoks-based non-profit, one of seven local charities being supported by this year’s Western Wheel Cares campaign, is seeing an increased demand for a meal program it supports at 12 schools in the region.
“More kids are coming to school without breakfast or lunch and more families are relying on the program to know that their children will get fed during the day,” said Andrea Mitchell, executive director of the Sheep River Health Trust.
Mitchell said the program, which has been in existence for two decades, takes different forms at different schools — from breakfast to hot lunch to an emergency cupboard that students can access — depending on the school's needs.
“We are finding more and more of the schools are coming forward and we do provide funding each year to them to a certain amount but then they're coming and saying we’ve run out of funding,” she said. “So that's where we're going to put the (Western Wheel Cares) funds this year.”
From funding equipment purchases to supporting wellness programs, the Sheep River Health Trust promotes health and well-being throughout the Foothills by partnering with a variety of organizations.
Mitchell points to the Volunteer Driver Program offered through the Okotoks Family Resource Centre as an example of the trust supporting a worthwhile program in the community.
“Here at the trust, we believe health care should be staying local as much as it can, but sometimes people have to go into the city, so we want to make sure that's an easy process, which is why we support that program," she said.
“We have lots of community partners come forward and say, ‘We have this great project, but we need some funding to get it off the ground.’ We want to be there to help those organizations make those programs happen within the community.”
The trust also funds many capital projects, having recently spent more than $100,000 to install 14 ceiling lifts in long-term care at Oilfields General Hospital.
Mitchell said during the pandemic the trust focused efforts on supporting health care workers, which moved equipment purchases to the back burner, but the requests for those items — everything from a cauterizing machine and a bladder scanner to an aspirator and a state-of-the-art floor scrubber — haven’t gone away.
The trust hosts several holiday events that help raise money to fund its initiatives as well as provide community members with a festive outing. The Avenue of Trees is now on at the Best Western Plus, while a Breakfast with Santa is set for Saturday, Dec. 9.
This year’s Western Wheel Cares campaign runs from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31 and 100 per cent of donations go to the featured charities.
In 2022, the campaign raised a record $82,670, pushing its 11-year total to $569,059.
Each week, the Wheel will feature one of the seven organizations — Foothills Advocacy in Motion Society, Foothills Country Hospice, Inclusion Foothills, Okotoks Food Bank, Pound Rescue, Rowan House Society and Sheep River Health Trust — supported by the initiative.
To donate to Western Wheel Cares, mail cheques to Box 150, Okotoks, AB, T1S 2A2 or visit westernwheel.ca/western-wheel-cares for a Paypal donation link.
As well, you can drop by the Wheel office at 9 McRae St. from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays (closed from noon to 1 p.m. for lunch) or call 403-938-6397.
