THUNDER BAY – Roots to Harvest’s $2 million capital campaign sees more local support as family-owned Half-Way Motors has promised to donate $100,000 over the next four years.
The Roots to Harvest Capital Campaign’s goal is to raise $2 million to purchase, renovate and create programs in their current location at 450 Fort William Road.
The planned renovations are to create the dining room and new Community Food Market space that will provide a twice a week community meal for Elders and seniors and a weekly subsidized fruit and vegetable market.
“The Trevisanutto family and Half-Way Motors Group are committed to help those less fortunate in our community. Food security and young children are our main focus and Roots to Harvest is completely aligned with our focus,” said John Trevisanutto, Half-Way Motors founder.
The Half-Way Motors family have been long time community supports of Roots to Harvest and other local charities, most notably Our Kids Count and the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre.
“The Half-Way Motors and Trevisanutto family have had such a large philanthropic impact in our region, and having their support for this project means so much to us. We know they put a lot of consideration into these decisions to put their name and business behind an initiative and this is a major boost for the Roots Community Food Centre.” said Roots to Harvest executive director Erin Beagle.
“We hoped, but never assumed, that the community would get behind this major transition with us because we honestly can’t do it without significant commitments like this one from Half-Way Motors. Personally, I’m full of gratitude for this generosity.”
With support from different levels of government, including the recently announced NOHFC funding of $500,500, $150,000 from the Carpenters Union Local 1669 and $100,000 from Community Food Centres Canada, the donation from the family brings the campaign to within 40 per cent of their goal of $2M.
Half-Way Motors hopes that their donation will help inspire and leverage other donors to rise to the occasion.
“We’re proud that we’re able to rise to the challenge of helping our community and Roots to Harvest in these ways.” Trevisanutto said.
“We sincerely believe in the work that Roots to Harvest does in our region, and we hope that other businesses will step up to contribute what they can toward this new direction.”
With the launch of this major gifts campaign, Roots to Harvest is soliciting large and long-term contributions from companies to support the development of the Community Food Centre for Thunder Bay.
