In the spirit of Westerner Days, The Mustard Seed held their first pancake breakfast and open house this week to provide Red Deerians with an update on their latest services.
On Thursday, July 21, guests, staff and volunteers gathered at The Seed (6002 54 Ave.) from 8 a.m. – 10 a.m. for pancakes, sausages, and fruits.
One main project, says Laura Giesbrecht, Director of Operations at The Seed, has been the School Lunch Program
During the 2021/22 school year, The Seed states they delivered 85,000 lunches to 45 schools in Red Deer and surrounding areas, including rural locations.
Giesbrecht says the lunches are made every morning throughout the 10-month school year by a consistently new group of volunteers around 7 a.m. Two delivery drivers then distribute the lunches to the north and south routes with a third paid driver for the farther surrounding areas.
She says since March 2022, the program has seen a large increase in demand, likely due to rising costs of gas and groceries that have pushed some families to their financial limits.
“Kids need to eat and that allows them to stay in school and focus and learn and it just creates different life opportunities for people when they can stay in school,” said Giesbrecht.
Recently, she states The Seed has been delivering roughly 500 lunches per day, or 10,000 lunches per month. Run entirely off of donations with each lunch averaging a cost of $2.50, the program requires nearly a quarter of a million dollars to operate.
“We could not do what we do in the community without the support of our volunteers and our donors,” she said.
Another addition to The Seed, according to Giesbrecht, is the expansion of their Health and Wellness Program through the recent hiring of a new mental health councillor. Working in conjunction with their current wellness advocate, guests are seen for free to determine which programs and services best meet their needs including counselling, medical doctors, employment, housing, community resources and more.
“We all have a story and we all have different reasons that have brought us to our different places in our lives and it’s no different for our guests who are experiencing homelessness. Each one of them has a story and has different factors that they need to work on to help them move forward,” she said.
Giesbrecht says the goal is to hopefully enlarge their space for the program to accommodate growth in services offered, in a more clinical and private, yet warm atmosphere.
In the near future, the charity will be hosting their first annual golf tournament titled the “Inaugural Mustard Seed Classic” on August 22 at the Red Deer Golf and Country Club. All proceeds will be matched by the Shaw Birdies for Kids charity towards The Seed’s School Lunch Program. Sponsorships and team spots are still available.

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