A charity event this fall will see local producers coming together to help support the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. Spokesperson Dave Falk says the Portage group is called "FOCUS," which stands for "Feed Other Countries, Undo Starvation," and in early October they'll be using ten combines to harvest a 120 acre soybean field near Elie. Falk notes the Milltown colony is cooperating with the harvest on this particular acreage and they've also graciously volunteered to provide an in-field lunch after the work is completed. He says folks are welcome to come out and have fun watching all these combines harvest the field in just a few hours.

Falk notes they're hoping to make more people aware of what the Canadian Foodgrains Bank does and how the Portage group gets involved. He says the money raised isn't just from the grain that's grown, adding FOCUS has over forty thousand dollars of cash donations and a lot of urban people and church people make some of those contributions. Falk notes the Canadian Foodgrains Bank raises just over eleven million dollars in grow projects alone every year and Manitoba is a very big part of that. He says while the money is used to feed people in poor countries, it also aids them in finding water and learning how to farm more efficiently.

Falk adds money raised by the Canadian Foodgrains Bank is matched by the federal government on a four to one basis. He says this means if they raise a hundred and fifty thousand dollars, the projects get six hundred thousand dollars in total, so it's a very significant contribution from the feds.

He notes the actual date for the soybean field harvest near Elie will depend on the weather, so folks should keep listening to their local radio station for announcements about when they anticipate that the work will begin.