Little Bone First Nation donates bread to local lunch program in Yorkton

WATCH: Little Bone First Nation donate 100 loaves of bread to Soup Haven, a local lunch program in Yorkton.

Little Bone First Nation donated 100 loaves of bread from a local bakery to Yorkton’s The Soup Haven.

There was a quiet but lively conversation at Soup Haven Inc’s headquarters in Yorkton on Thursday. A young man from Little Bone First Nation brought donations to the organization.

“All of our nation’s children have attended school in Yorkton,” Cameron Peepeetch, head of Little Bone First Nation’s Hunting Council said. “I want to try to do something to give back because they do a lot for our children in these communities.”

Peepeetch told CTV News that he was on the lunch program, and so are his kids now. On Thursday, he brought 100 loaves of bread from a local business in Melville to deliver it to The Soup Haven.

“The funding comes from my nation, our community, and they fund my [hunting] council every year.” He added, “our health department is actually a huge benefactor there.”

Food scarcity is a real issue that is present in Yorkton and area.

“[Every week] we go through probably 11 or 12 flats of bread and there’s 10 loaves in each flat,” Marilyn Dyck, The Soup Haven Inc.’s program director said. “We feed about 300 kids daily, between bag lunches and some schools, they have bulk lunches.”

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Her non-profit organization is run with a staff of four, who work part-time.

“We really appreciate this, 100 loaves of bread that will feed [the children] probably for the week, and that is wonderful to get a donation like this,” she told CTV News.

Yorkton Mayor Aaron Kienle was also present at the meeting.

“[Little Bone First Nation] is so close proximity to Yorkton and yet it’s one of the first nations that I think a lot of our residents don’t think of when [they] think of neighbouring First Nations,” Kienle said.

Little Bone First Nation is located only 20 kilometers south of Yorkton. According to Peepeetch, about 75 to 80 people live on the reserve, but they have urban members as well.

Kienle said it’s amazing to see support coming from Little Bone.

“This is something that we’re hoping that encourages other businesses, organizations, individuals, and First Nations to take a look at the possibility of supporting a community-based group like [Soup Haven].”

He added that Soup Haven is feeding and providing for not only Yorkton but the surrounding areas as well.

Peepeetch said that Little Bone First Nation would like to continue their donations in the future.

“I have plans to try and fit this into my budget once a year just to make contribution to the Soup Haven, mostly because my community relies on Yorkton schools.”