With food costs continuing to rise, the Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority is donating $100,000 to the Saskatoon Tribal Council’s Emergency Wellness Centre for its nutrition program. President and CEO of SIGA, Zane Hansen, says the shelter has done so much to help those in need, and it goes beyond food and shelter with the programs and services that are available. “Homelessness is a community problem and SIGA wants to be part of the solution. Stepping up to help the relatives at the EWC is the right thing to do.”

Tribal Chief Mark Arcand pointed out one project they are working towards is a commercial kitchen. He says once it is built, those at the shelter who want to can take a food safe-handling course, and then could possibly be hired by STC to work at the shelter’s kitchen, and working towards finding their own home.

Arcand welcomes the donation from SIGA, saying that it will help with the rising cost of groceries, which he understands everyone is grappling with right now. The Tribal Chief estimates the average cost to run the shelter per month is $400,000 taking into consideration food, utilities and wages plus other expenses. The food cost per month is about $50,000.

Arcand believes once they have a commercial kitchen they will have room to store more food, so buying in larger quantities less often will help bring down the cost.
The need for shelter hasn’t slowed down. The Tribal Chief says their 106 beds are full every night, with another ten overflow clients, and they often have to transfer people to other facilities to make sure everyone has a roof over their heads.

(in the picture left to right: STC Tribal Chief Mark Arcand, SIGA President and CEO Zane Hansen)