The Saskatoon Food Bank and Learning Centre’s Plant Possibility capital campaign is the recipient of a half-million-dollar donation from the Australian-based mining company, BHP. The campaign is raising funds for a new food warehouse and learning campus.

A news release says in the last ten years, Saskatoon’s food bank has increased from serving 12,000 to as many as 23,000 people each month, and 40 per cent are children. Executive Director of the SFBLC, Laurie O’Connor, says BHP’s $500,000 investment will go towards optimizing operations, increasing the quality and quantity of healthy foods available, expanding food distribution and making space for Food Banks of Saskatchewan to serve all 36 food banks in the province. She thanks BHP for its belief in what the Food Bank and Learning Centre does and for its support.

BHP is constructing a potash mine near Jansen Lake, about 140 kilometres east of Saskatoon, and the city is home to BHP’s Canadian headquarters.