Who We Are
Our Mission
At the Saskatoon Food Bank & Learning Centre we are committed to ensuring a food secure community where all people have access to safe, affordable, and nutritious food.
Our Vision
The Saskatoon Food Bank & Learning Centre embraces its role as innovative and collaborative leaders in building an engaged, inclusive, healthy, and empowered community for all.
Our Values
Respect. Innovation. Collaboration. Compassion.
We also believe it’s important to address the underlying issues contributing to hunger and poverty in our community. In our Learning Centre we offer various learning, self-help, and life skills programs that are supportive of learning needs and aspirations within a family-oriented, empowering, and self-directed environment.
We receive core government funding and rely solely on the generosity of the community to operate.
Our History
The Saskatoon Food Bank began as a temporary project in the summer of 1983. By 1984 it was incorporated as a non-profit charity. Since its beginnings in the basement of St. Thomas Wesley United Church it has occupied various locations, coming to the present premises at 202 Avenue C South in 1990. The Grassroots Resource and Learning Centre (later renamed simply Learning Centre) was established in 1992 to offer various life skills programs.
What is now the Saskatoon Food Bank & Learning Centre Garden Patch got its start in 2010 as a community project, the Potato Patch. The Saskatoon Food Bank & Learning Centre began to oversee the project in 2012, renaming it the Garden Patch and is now the flourishing program you see located in the 900 block of 3rd Avenue North.
Today, the Saskatoon Food Bank & Learning Centre is a progressive and collaborative organization that uses a systems approach to develop programs, services, and initiatives that address the underlying causes of food insecurity and poverty in our community.
Brownlee Family Foundation Legacy Gift
Thanks to the Brownlee Family Foundation, who have set a solid base for a food-secure Saskatoon for years to come. Long-time and dedicated supporters of Saskatoon Food Bank & Learning Centre (SFBLC), Wayne and Ina Lou Brownlee have created the Brownlee Fund, an incredibly generous $2 million endowment, to support the food distribution program.
During his long and distinguished business career, Wayne invested much of his time promoting investments on a global scale, elevating PotashCorp in the global market. Wayne’s knowledge, skills and executive leadership were vital during massive, notable corporate mergers. He is known for his many successes in industry that continue to benefit people and communities in Saskatchewan and strengthen the broader Canadian economy.
Wayne’s deep involvement in leading a global business and ensuring corporate success, is paralleled by his dedication to the community. Wayne and Ina Lou’s shared, and genuine belief in community and in elevating the quality of life for all is evidenced by the extensive list of generous philanthropic involvement in Saskatoon and area. The Saskatoon Community Foundation, Wanuskewin Heritage Park, Saskatoon Public School Foundation, and Biggar’s revitalization project are just a sample of organizations that have benefited from his leadership and generous giving.
Being from Biggar, SK the inherent sense of community for which Saskatchewan is known is a driver for both Wayne and Ina Lou. Support of the SFBLC resonates with them especially as, growing up on the farm, Ina Lou has never lost her connection to the importance of food production and sustainability.
Wayne’s view of their support of the SFBLC mirrors the fervent manner he applied in business, “Ina Lou and I support all the good community work you do and we encourage you to be relentless in serving families in need!” It is this model of philanthropic leadership for which he was honoured earlier this year with the province's highest honour, the Saskatchewan Order of Merit.
Thank you, Wayne, and Ina Lou, for your incredible generosity and dedication to creating a community supportive of all.