When it comes to bettering the community, the Lloydminster Native Friendship Centre (LNFC) is working daily to support Lloydminster residents.
The friendship centre offers a number of programs. At the forefront is a community advocate.
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“We have only one community advocate that works with the vulnerable population in Lloyd,” said Deborah Munroe, LNFC executive director, noting there’s a big need for the community advocate.
“As we have a high need for her, we are actually trying to subsidize that program with other funding,” she explained. “We feel there’s so much more we could do that we’re not able to do with our current funding.
“We want to supplement that to provide more things like workshops and events.”
LNFC offers what’s called Jordan’s Principle, which is available to Saskatchewan children.
“Our Jordan’s Principle program is for Saskatchewan First Nations children. We provide social supports to families on the Saskatchewan side (of Lloyd),” said Munroe. “We can also help do referrals for our Alberta residents.”
She said the centre offers a seniors program twice a week aimed at keeping older adults active and engaged through a variety of activities.
Munroe hopes for additional funding for their senior’s programs as well.
“We did apply to New Horizons for Seniors (program) so we can have a dedicated pot of funding,” she said, noting they service a large number of seniors.
Being a non-profit, obtaining funding is an ongoing difficulty for the friendship centre.
“We are a non-profit, but we are also a charity,” she said. “So, that kind of helps when you’re trying to reach out for different pots of funding.
“The only multi-year funding we have is through ANFCA (Alberta Native Friendship Centre Association).”
Munroe says they also offer programs for youth, operating out of the youth centre at the back of the facility.
“We do an after-school program for September to June for youth ages 7 to 15,” she said. “In the summer when school is out, we do weekly ssummer camps (for) kids ages 5 to 15. We’ll have eight weeks of summer camps.”
There’s also a cultural aspect to the program.
“We try to integrate our elders so that there’s a bit of mentorship and exchange of knowledge,” said Munroe. “We’ll have elders come in and open the weekly program with them, share some stories and just help guide our program.”
The LNFC also offers a program that looks to build kids self-esteem and confidence.
“We work with the school kids and have a program called Warriors are Heroes, too,” she said. “It’s kind of a self-esteem program and we go to schools and they teach that program to build confidence and self-esteem and connection to culture.
“I’m actually really proud of the work we do around that.”
For adults, there’s also educational programs.
“There’s an adult education program that Laurie (Harris) is prepping people for, basically, a high school equivalency test,” she said.
Additionally, the centre provides food to the community through the rescue of food from local grocers.
“Three times a week, we go rescue food from Safeway,” said Munroe. “We’re also connected with Co-op and Sobeys.”
The food collected is on the verge of expiring, which isn’t a problem for the friendship centre as it goes out to the community as soon as it’s collected. The program is successful in not only feeding the community but having a positive impact on it.
“In the last year, the value of food that we’ve rescued is $315,720 worth of food, which diverted 123,690 kilograms of greenhouse gas and provided 79,872 meals to our community,” she said.
Rescuing the food has also saved more than 46 million litres of water, conserving the water used to make the food.
On top of the food rescued and distributed, the LNFC also hosts a community lunch and holiday meals.
“We do host a community lunch on Wednesdays. Every Wednesday, we have soup and Bannock,” said Munroe. “We have holiday community meals. We’ll do Easter dinner, Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas dinner, when possible.”
Little Caesars also donates their leftover pizza to the friendship centre daily.
There are currently 170 members with the LNFC. Membership goes yearly and always expires on March 31 of each year. Memberships are $5 a year and holders receive a Christmas hamper, and when funding allows, an Easter hamper. Members can also attend the organization’s AGM every year.
Throughout the year, the centre hosts plenty of events, including Red Dress Day, National Indigenous People’s Day and National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
Munroe explains they also have outreach programs where they offer winter gear to those that need it. While they don’t have a budget for the clothing, they’re always accepting donations.
“There are times out of necessity that we have to go purchase gloves and hand warmers and things like that,” she said.
They also give out personal hygiene products to the unhoused community.
The LNFC doesn’t take any personal information for those that come in to get food, helping to knock down a barrier for those that may need the service.
“They just come in on donation days. Sometimes, there’s a lot of them in the lobby. We’ll give out numbers and then (they’ll) go one at a time,” Munroe said, noting the centre is status blind. “It’s hard to ask for help. We make it as easy as possible. Everybody is welcome.”
Counselling services for low-income residents is also available through the centre twice a month.
“We have a partnership with Catholic Social Services in North Battleford,” Munroe said. “Counselling is twice a month, every second Tuesday.”
The LNFC is always seeking additional donations, monetary or otherwise.
“We do accept donations like hygiene items, blankets and boots,” she said.
Those looking to help can visit the centre Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., excluding a 30-minute lunch break at noon, or call 306-825-6558.
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