It’s been a busy year at the Saskatoon Food Bank and Learning Centre. The organization has seen a 25 per cent increase in the use of its services in 2024, which works out to around 23,000 people a month coming to the Food Bank. Of those 23,000 people, 43 per cent are children.

These numbers, along with the Food Bank’s plan to open a new facility in August 2025 in the Pleasant Hill neighbourhood, makes the organization’s Light It Up fundraising campaign all the more critical.

One of the many unique spaces in the Food Bank is the Community Test Kitchen. This is where you can often find Kate Lasiuk and her team leading community cooking classes as well as preparing food for the greater community. Kate is the Nutrition Program Manager with the Food Bank and a big believer that food can bring people together from all walks of life.

The Nutrition Program at the Food Bank has been in operation since 2019, and under Kate’s guidance, it is teaching people not just the basics of cooking but the joy that comes with preparing a meal. The cooking classes, whether they are in person or online, are also bringing people from diverse backgrounds together. I think that’s definitely worth celebrating.

It was a pleasure sitting down with Kate to talk about the difference the Nutrition Program is making in Saskatoon, and why this work means so much to her.

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Cheers...Eric

• Host, Producer, Editor: Eric Anderson
• Theme Music: Andrew Dickson
• Website: https://www.yxeunderground.com
• Recorded: On Treaty 6 Territory and the traditional homeland of the Metis