Click on item of interest for further detail……or scroll down and the same list is repeated below with a short description of each item.
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- 1. April 1975 MCC Food Bank Proposal
This is the very first document written to anticipate the Food Bank or later the “Foodgrains Bank” idea. The discussion grew out of the 1973-74 famine experience of Art DeFehr in Bangladesh plus the collective efforts of John Wieler of MCC Canada, Dave Durksen form the Canadian grain industry and Len Siemens from the University of Manitoba. The original idea contained the elements of banking grain as grain or value, the role of CIDA and the Wheat Board plus the role of an agency like MCC in distribution. These discussions led to the formation of the original MCC Foodgrains Bank and a few years later as the multi-church “Canadian Foodgrains Bank”. The next document written approximately a month later already expresses a great deal of refinement of the idea. Read more>>
- 2. May 1975 Food Bank Proposal
This is the second of two documents written in April and May of 1975 to develop the idea of a Food Bank to deal with the situation of global hunger and based on the use of wheat as the single commodity. The group that met regularly to develop this idea included Art DeFehr (the current writer), John Wieler of MCC (Canada), Dave Durksen from the grain industry and Prof Len Siemens of the University of Manitoba. In the initial stages the term “Food Bank” was used and we were advised the name was legally available. MCC later decided that the term reflected too much ambition and decided on the term “Foodgrains” instead of “Food”. These two documents were based on some different initial premises than the current Canadian Foodgrains Bank but many of the core ideas including a major role for the Wheat Board and CIDA were anticipated. The CFGB has developed into a multi-church NGO and has delivered over 600 million dollars of food or food-related assistance to many parts of the world since its inception. Read more>>
- 3. 1981 12 11 The Food Bank as Prophecy
Written in 1981 as one of a series of articles that attempted to influence the debate internal to MCC as to the proper role of the Food Bank. In particular this uses prophetic language to argue for the Food Bank role in policy versus only Food Aid. Read more>>
- 4. MCC and Food Aid Policy
Delivered in January 1982 so may have been the occasion of the annual meeting. It makes the case that intelligent Food Aid is part of the historic role of MCC and can and should be part of the future if done right. Read more>>