Giving Tuesday 2025
This Giving Tuesday, help stock Global Gathering Place’s Nutrien Nourish Nook and provide food to newcomer families facing emergency situations.
Nutrien Nourish Nook is a small but essential food pantry that provides food hampers to our most vulnerable clients. Thanks to a grant from Nutrien, the donation of a fridge, pantry, and wagon from the Saskatoon Local Immigration Partnership, and donations of food we receive through Second Harvest, we are able to offer our clients nutritious, culturally appropriate food when needed most.
Food security is one of many factors to ensure a successful settlement, highlighting the importance of accessible and timely support for refugees and newcomers. The clients who have accessed Nutrien Nourish Nook include a single mother of four children who struggled to make ends meet while awaiting child benefit payments. Another family of eight faced difficulties providing adequate food for their young children, as their government benefits were delayed. A single girl on SIS had to choose between buying winter clothes or food, as her limited resources couldn’t cover both necessities.
A mother caring for two children with disabilities had to prioritize medical needs over groceries, resulting in her family eating just once a day. An elderly couple attending daily classes faced limited access to food and resources, leaving them hungry throughout the day.
Some families faced compounding struggles, like one family who experienced financial hardship due to a past overpayment issue. The delay in their RAP money left them unable to pay their rent.
Our Wellness Coordinator, Georgette, says, “Families have shared their relief and gratitude, saying that this support reduced their stress and helped them meet their basic needs. Nutrien Nourish Nook continues to make a real difference, helping clients feel cared for and more secure as they settle into life in Canada.”
Ways to support Nutrien Nourish Nook:
- Donate Grocery Store Gift Cards to support the Nutrien Nourish Nook. This pantry is stocked with staples to help our clients successfully settle without the added stress of how they will feed their family. Gift cards will help with clients’ additional needs that are not regularly stocked, such as formula for infants, specialized food for those with dietary requirements, and other necessities that are unique to each family. These gift cards can be dropped off at any of our locations.
- Double your impact by purchasing your gift card through our FundScrip fundraiser, where you can purchase gift cards, and a percentage of your purchase is donated directly back to Global Gathering Place at no extra cost to you. Find more information here.
- Donate monetarily through our website in order for us to continue stocking our staple pantry items.
In the last six months, we have distributed 109 food hampers to those in urgent need. These are stories of our clients who have accessed the Nutrien Nourish Nook. Their names have been changed to ensure privacy.
Huda, a refugee from Eritrea, came to Canada earlier this year with her husband and six children, including twin babies. Through no fault of their own, we discovered that mistakes were made on their Canada Child Tax Benefit application which left them without this essential support for several months until we were able to correct the errors. In addition to linking them to the Saskatoon Food Bank, the Nutrien Nourish Nook was vital in ensuring they had milk and other food staples to carry them through this difficult period.
Rana was trapped in an abusive relationship. In addition to being physically abusive to her and their children, her husband tightly controlled her finances and closely monitored her activities. Rana appealed to us for help and we quickly mobilized to move her and her children to safety. The Nutrien Nourish Nook permitted us to fill her fridge and cupboards with healthy food that could sustain her little family until other social support nets kicked in.
Sana’s English teacher noticed a sudden change in her. She had lost a significant amount of weight and no longer appeared as happy and outgoing as she once had. After probing for more information, we learned that Sana didn’t have enough food at home to feed her family of four, and as a result, she had barely been eating. We quickly got her a hamper of groceries from the Nutrien Nourish Nook and connected her to resources that could help her and her family in the long term.
