YORKTON – The Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority and Painted Hand Casino announced a $10,000 donation to the Yorkton Food Bank March 19.
Representatives from SIGA, the Painted Hand Casino and the Yorkton Salvation Army gathered at the Salvation Army Food Bank to hear remarks from those involved.
"We're seeing — in all communities around Sask — that there's a need and people are having a hard time meeting the basic need of food in their household," said Ronza Reynard, Communities Ministries Director at the Salvation Army for Yorkton, Weyburn and Estevan.
"We're happy to be able to provide that in Yorkton and with the help of SIGA and the Painted Hand Casino and their donation today — that's going to help us quite a bit in the food bank to ... serve the people in Yorkton and around the Yorkton area," added Reynard.
"This donation is part of SIGA's Community Investments Food Security Strategy," said Memory Delorme-Antoine, Painted Hand Casino General Manager, in her address to attendees, adding, "through this initiative we will see $225,000 in total donated to food banks across the province to support food banks and various nutrition programs in the province."
"Through this initiative we will see $225,000 in total donated to food banks across the province to support food banks and various nutrition programs in the province," added Delorme-Antoine.
Delorme-Antoine recounted statistics from the Food Banks Canada 2023 Hunger Count that stated last year's visits to Sask Food Banks totaled 55,000 with 22,000 of those visits coming from children. The numbers, she said, are "24 per cent higher than it was in 2022 and about 50 per cent more visits than the province saw in 2019."
"Partnering with organizations like the Yorkton Food Bank — this is how we practice being a good corporate citizen," said Delorme-Antoine, adding, "it also gives the food bank buying power to be able to support those food initiatives in the city and surrounding area of Yorkton."
"One of SIGA's guiding principals is Wîtaskêwin — that guiding principle speaks to giving back to the communities that we live and work in whether that's through volunteerism or a monetary donation such as this — we at SIGA and Painted Hand Casino believe in being a good corporate citizen," said Delorme-Antoine.
