PAGC food hampers that were given out. (Jaryn Vecchio/paNOW Staff)

By Jaryn Vecchio

Helping Others

PAGC hands out 3,000 food hampers ahead of Easter holiday

Apr 4, 2023 | 3:00 PM

Thousands of Prince Albert residents won’t be hungry this Easter weekend thanks to the Prince Albert Grand Council (PAGC).

Around 3,000 food hampers were given out ahead of the holiday with some waiting in line for a couple of hours to get a helping hand.

Co-organizer Betty Marleau told paNOW they’ve been handing out hampers around different holidays for roughly three years, however, this is by far the biggest turnout they’ve ever had.

“You have to be a rocket scientist (to afford) to go to the grocery store,” she said. “It’s a pretty painful experience, you can just imagine if you’re a single mom with four teenage boys.”

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When the program first started, the PAGC was handing out around 1,000 hampers during each holiday. That number slowly started to rise as more people and more people kept reaching out in hopes of taking part, however, they had never hit 3,000.

Around 2,000 people registered for the Easter program in the first 24 hours after the PAGC announced its plans to hand out the hampers for Easter. This includes Indigenous, non-Indigenous, and newcomers to the area.

“We’ve gotten people from all walks of life,” said Marleau. “If you need a little bit of help, we want to help you.”

Marleau didn’t want to say how much the PAGC spent on the hampers. However, she did mention it was hundreds of thousands.

“If you just did the math; 3,000 turkeys at just under $40 a turkey…that’s $120,000 right there.”

She noted it wouldn’t have been possible to hand out as many hampers as they did without help from SHARE Prince Albert who provided warehouse space and Caribou Transport who helped move all the food from storage to the PAGC’s headquarters where it was handed out.

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Jaryn.Vecchio@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow