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The Mustard Seed honours donors, volunteers at Seeds for Hope Celebration

The Mustard Seed honoured its volunteers, sponsors and donors while raising money at the Seeds of Hope Celebration this past week.
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Mustard Seed runs a 46-bed sober shelter, soup kitchen and health centre in Riverside Meadows. (By SUSAN ZIELINSKI/Advocate staff)

The Mustard Seed honoured its volunteers, sponsors and donors while raising money at the Seeds of Hope Celebration this past week.

The sold-out event was hosted by the Christian nonprofit organization at Bo’s Bar and Stage on Thursday, March 23.

“The donors, volunteers and sponsors play such an important role,” said Becky Parsons, volunteer co-ordinator at the Red Deer Mustard Seed.

“We would not be able to run our building and run our services that we offer to our guests without them. … It’s such an incredible thing to have so many people come together and want to help out our community.”

During the Seeds of Hope, a video was shown featuring The Mustard Seed’s School Lunch Program, which provides almost 600 lunches per day for students across central Alberta.

“So much of the money comes from fundraising and donors,” Parsons noted.

“We have some volunteers who come in at 5:20 in the morning who start preparing everything. Then we have other volunteers come in at 7:30 to 8:30 and they help make the sandwiches, prep the lunches and organize them in bins. Then we have other volunteers come in and deliver those lunches.”

In addition to the School Lunch Program, The Mustard Seed supports individuals experiencing homelessness and poverty through various programs and services, including its Wellness Centre, Drop-In Program and Dinner Program.

“The need is continuing to grow. It’s a hard thing sometimes when we have so many people needing our services, but we’re grateful that we are there to provide the services for them,” said Parsons.

The Dinner Program is accessed by more than those experiencing homelessness, Parsons noted, adding there are full families who come in for meals.

A final dollar amount hasn’t been determined yet for how much was raised during the Seeds of Hope Celebration. In the meantime, The Mustard Seed is looking for more support.

“We’re always looking for new volunteers to come in,” Parsons added.

“They can help with things like the School Lunch Program, serving our guests coffee, serving suppers, meal preparations, the dish pit.”

For more information on Red Deer The Mustard Seed, visit www.theseed.ca.



sean.mcintosh@reddeeradvocate.com

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Sean McIntosh

About the Author: Sean McIntosh

Sean joined the Red Deer Advocate team in the summer of 2017. Originally from Ontario, he worked in a small town of 2,000 in Saskatchewan for seven months before coming to Central Alberta.
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