Thank You for Sharing Food and Comfort

In the three remote Indigenous communities of Red Sucker Lake, God’s Lake Narrows, and Garden Hill in Northern Manitoba, supplies and visitors come by plane. This means that groceries and other necessities are especially expensive for local families.

With the help of Gifts with Vision, 45 families received gift cards to Northern Store, the only grocery store in each of these communities. Several community members shared with us the ways the gift cards reduced the stress on them and their families.

Keith from Red Sucker Lake said that his wife had been sent out of the community by medevac plane for emergency medical treatment and he was taking care of his small children alone. He said that this grocery card helped their family during this challenging time. Another father, Boyd, took his four children to the store with him on a celebratory outing to buy Christmas dinner.

Madeline, also from Red Sucker Lake, cried when she received the card. She was planning her annual memorial gathering for her late husband that week, and she was worried she would not be able to afford the food. Fanny, a grandmother, said that the card helped her to host her children and grandchildren for the holidays. She made them a hearty soup and her famous bannock recipe.

Offering support for the unique needs of communities like Red Sucker Lake, God’s Lake Narrows and Garden Hill is vitally important as we strive for reconciliation. Gifts with Vision offers several gifts to uplift social healing in Indigenous communities that are struggling to overcome the legacies of residential schools and colonization.