Food bank award recognizes pork program organizers

Saturday, October 26, 2013

by MATT MCINTOSH

The Ontario Association of Food Banks (OAFB) gave this year's Paul Mistele Memorial Award to the organizations responsible for the Ontario Pork Program: Ontario Pork, Zoetis, Shur-Gain, Elanco, and Mable Honor Farm – The Fraser Family.

The award is given to organizations and people who, according to the association’s Friday press release, "have shown a significant and enduring commitment to ending hunger in Ontario."

"Those who rely on food banks really need good sources of protein, and the Ontario Pork Program is doing a lot to make sure they have that," says Bill Laidlaw, the association's executive director.

The Ontario Pork Program started in June of 2013, and is a regional program in southern Ontario that distributes ground pork to food banks and other charities. It evolved from Ontario Pork's Donate-A-Hog initiative, which was started in 1998 by the late Elgin County hog producer Paul Mistele.

As of Friday, the program had distributed over 20,000 servings to the OAFB, which serves 412,000 Ontarians in need.

"Donate-A-Hog has blossomed into a great pork donation program that's been running for several years now," says Laidlaw. "We really hope this encourages others to donate."

The award was presented to the recipients at the Ontario Harvest Gala in Guelph on Thursday. BF