How Saskatchewan is serving kindness through food-giving initiatives

CBC's virtual road trip series Land of Living Stories explores the hidden gems across Saskatchewan. 

We all know that Christmas is a time to give, but shouldn't that be the case year-round?

We at CBC Saskatchewan think so. So do countless people across the province who have devoted their time to giving food to those in need.

For this special edition of CBC's Land of Living Stories, we're shining a light on community food initiatives and those who give back. It's all in support of our Make The Season Kind campaign to help out the Food Banks of Saskatchewan reach their goal of raising $1 million.

Food security has long been a concern in northern Saskatchewan, where the majority of the population is Indigenous.

"A lot of our families nowadays, they live in the north and food is more expensive, gas is more expensive, everything's more expensive," said Rebecca Lemaigre-Sylvestre, founder of the Turnor Lake and Birch Narrows Community Food Centre, 330 kilometres north of Meadow Lake.

"Imagine living at home, living on social assistance when you're receiving a little over $200 every two weeks. You have to pay your bills. You have to put food on the table.

"Every day a mother is thinking, how am I going to make this work? How am I going to put food on a table when I have all these bills to pay?"

Lemaigre-Sylvestre was one of those mothers. For 32 years she struggled with alcoholism. She had to give up three of her children and wasn't providing the food her other children needed.

"For most of my life, I can say I've wasted my life," said Lemaigre-Sylvestre.

"I think alcohol came before my family. And when I did reach out for help, I didn't know where to turn because I was embarrassed of what I was doing to myself. That embarrassment of going to ask somebody to help because I drank up my money."

In 2013, Lemaigre-Sylvestre decided to commit suicide.

"I wasn't going to live in this world anymore. I did too much wrong, so I tried to take my life. And I ended up in the hospital."

After hospital workers pumped her stomach, Lemaigre-Sylvestre woke up to see her young daughter.