Ice Road Trucker Alex Debogorski delivers food to St. Theresa Point
TV star volunteers to deliver emergency food hampers collected by Gimli woman
After a month of collecting food donations, six pallets are on the way to St. Theresa Point in northern Manitoba.
The Emergency Northern Food Drive was started by Clarina Taylor in early February.
"The issue was just seeing if I could get just a little bit of food to go up there," says Taylor. "I thought, 'Oh, I will fill up the back of my car, you know, the four or five boxes.'"
The Gimli, Man., woman has family in St. Theresa Point and got the idea for a food drive after seeing her cousin post on Facebook about boycotting the Northern store because of high prices.
"I can't even just imagine the food prices. A can of soup being three of four times the price," said Taylor. "You can't feed your family on just that."
As donations started to pour in, Taylor started looking for a free way to get the food to the isolated community.
She decided to send emails and post on the Ice Road Truckers Facebook page and ask for help. Polar Industry driver and History Channel star Alex Debogorski stepped up.
"I was beaming from ear to ear, it was the best news ever."
This act of giving will be featured in an episode on the History Channel. Taylor says she never expected the food drive to get so much attention.
"The very best outcome is that there is now a larger audience as far as looking at the issue of food prices, I know that it is a relevant issue."
There are 958 families in St. Theresa Point. Taylor says the chief and council will determine how to hand out the food.
In total, she collected enough food and cash donations to pack up three pallets. Winnipeg Harvest matched her donation with another three pallets.
"If you think about six pallets of food it's not going to get too far, but at least it's going to help a little bit," says Taylor.
She says Alex Debogorski will present a bundle of sage to Chief David McDougall, along with the food.