Darren Austin (Tolko Meadow Lake plant manager), left, makes a cheque presentation to Natanis Bundschuh (executive director of Meadow Lake Outreach Ministries Inc.) (submitted photo/Natanis Bundschuh)

By Angela Brown

Giving back

Tolko contributes $10,000 to Meadow Lake’s Door of Hope

Dec 20, 2022 | 5:24 PM

Meadow Lake Outreach Ministries Inc. received a boost of support this holiday season with a donation from Tolko Industries Ltd.

Tolko mills contributed $10,000 to benefit the Door of Hope project.

Meadow Lake Outreach Ministries Inc. executive director Natanis Bundschuh said it will be a great help to the organization.

“It was a really nice surprise coming into the Christmas season to see such overwhelming support from our community,” she said.

The ministry’s non-profit organization oversees the Door of Hope Soup Kitchen, the Meadow Lake Food Bank, Tiny Treasures Daycare, Hope Center Apartments, the Safe Supportive Living Program, the Supportive Apartment Family Education (SAFE) program, and the thrift store — ThriftHOPEia .

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Tolko Industries Ltd. Meadow Lake Division plant manager Darren Austin made a cheque presentation to Bundschuh for the company’s contribution.

Bundschuh said the donation will assist with fundraising goals for the year.

“Because of the size of our organization, we rely on donations, being a non-profit,” she said. “It will just go into help our general expenses.”

The Door of Hope shares space with the Meadow Lake Food Bank – with the food bank located in the back portion of the building. The Hope Centre also houses the daycare and supportive living programs. There is also a third property that houses the school-aged kids for daycare, as well as the thrift store.

“Our biggest need is to have a stable, monthly base of supporters,” Bundschuh said of the organization’s current demands. “We are looking in the next year to try and get people to donate on a regular monthly basis, rather than just donating once a year at Christmas time or when the mood strikes.”

The Door of Hope, which serves the community with both a soup kitchen and drop in centre, continues to grow to meet the community’s needs.

Bundschuh said security staff were recently hired to help with the Door of Hope. As a result, starting at the end of this week, organizers will begin having security personnel at the Door of Hope seven days a week, so there will always be somebody there from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. to help people in need.

“If there are any homeless in our community and somebody needs a place to stay warm or rest a little, they can come in here,” Bundschuh said. “We don’t have dorms or beds or anything like that, but we do have some couches and chairs people can lay down on and sleep if they need to.”

“We’ve increased our operations quite a bit to ensure we don’t lose anyone this winter,” she added. “It’s supposed to get quite cold out.”

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @meadowlakenow