Written by Thomas Novak in 2006
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.”
— Margaret Mead
It was the early 1990s. Brian Mulroney was Prime Minister, Gary Filmon was Premier of Manitoba, and Susan Thompson was beginning her time as Mayor of Winnipeg.
At the time, regular monthly meetings brought together people working in Community Economic Development in Winnipeg’s inner city, including Garry Loewen from SEED Winnipeg, Tom Simms from CIDA, André Goussaert from the Coop Council, Russ Rothney from Assiniboine Credit Union, and Lawrie Dean from Winnipeg Education Centre.
The key person at the beginning was Louise Champagne from Neechi Foods.
Louise was challenging the charity model that was so prominent at the time, particularly food banks and the Christmas Cheer Board. She believed that these short-term responses did little to address the underlying economic challenges facing Winnipeg’s inner-city communities.
Christmas was an especially frustrating time at Neechi. Louise had helped develop Neechi Foods into a worker cooperative with a mandate to provide jobs and quality food for people in the inner city. Christmas was one of the biggest food buying times of the year, yet Neechi would stock turkeys that often went unsold while families received free hampers through the Cheer Board.
In 1993, Louise organized a meeting with Kaj Madson of the Christmas Cheer Board. She shared her vision and proposed that the Board purchase some canned Co-op products from Neechi for its hampers. This would support Neechi while introducing more people to the quality Co-op products available at their neighbourhood store.
The proposal did not move forward that year, but Louise continued raising her concerns about the charity model, including at a meeting of the Manitoba Cooperative Council.
This time, Louise lit a fire.
Estelle Penner of CUIS Insurance was at that meeting. Her office traditionally raised money for the Cheer Board, but Estelle saw an opportunity to put Louise’s vision into action.
She went to Neechi Foods and purchased several hundred dollars’ worth of gift certificates. Rather than simply making a donation directly to the Cheer Board, employees at her office purchased Neechi gift certificates and sent them to the Board, with the hope that they would be used to purchase food for hampers from the store.
Louise shared the initiative with her Community Economic Development discussion group, and the idea quickly gained momentum. The group believed charitable dollars could have a double effect: meeting an immediate need while also supporting economic initiatives that would continue benefiting Winnipeg’s inner city long after Christmas.
Russ Rothney and Lawrie Dean arranged another meeting with the Cheer Board and proposed that the Board purchase 10 per cent of its food from Neechi. After reviewing a price list, the Board declined, explaining that it needed to purchase food as inexpensively as possible.
That decision motivated Tom Simms to begin contacting people across Winnipeg to form a steering committee. The group included people such as Judy Wasylycia-Leis and Randa Stewart from Assiniboine Credit Union.
If the Cheer Board would not purchase food from Neechi directly, the group would encourage people to donate to a new campaign. Those donations would be used to purchase food in bulk from Neechi and then donate that food to the Cheer Board. People could also visit Neechi themselves and purchase food to donate.
And so the campaign began.
A logo was designed, a pamphlet was prepared, and posters were placed in churches and other locations throughout Winnipeg.
The steering committee also recruited prominent community leaders to serve as campaign co-chairs. The first were Stan McKay and Kathy Mallet, followed later by Lesley Spillett, Bishop Patrick Lee of the Anglican Diocese of Rupert’s Land, and Peter Peters of the Mennonite Central Committee.
Early sponsors included Assiniboine Credit Union, the Manitoba Federation of Labour, the United Church Winnipeg Presbytery and, later, the Oblate Justice and Peace Committee.
To officially launch the campaign, the Steering Committee wanted to create a public event. Their goal was to raise $1,000 to present to the Cheer Board.
In late November, Tom, Lawrie and others began calling people throughout the city and asking them to contribute $100 each.
The money came in quickly.
A huge six foot by three foot cheque was created, and the media were invited to the official launch. The Christmas Cheer Board was also invited.
The launch attracted significant media attention. Although some coverage attempted to frame the initiative as a controversy between LITE and the Cheer Board, those involved with LITE chose not to engage in a public dispute.
In its first year, the campaign raised $12,000, providing three shipments of food worth $4,000 each. The Christmas Cheer Board accepted all three.
That was 1994.
By 2000, the campaign had surpassed the $100,000 mark. After 12 years, LITE had raised more than $1 million.
The goal of the campaign was always larger than providing food at Christmas. It was about addressing the lack of economic development in Winnipeg’s inner city.
“To plug the hole in the rusty bucket” became the theme of LITE’s first video and of presentations volunteers delivered throughout Winnipeg.
LITE was created to help build an alternative to approaches that addressed immediate needs without creating lasting economic opportunities. After the first few years of the campaign, expanding the scope of the organization was a natural next step.
Donations began supporting other projects working to create and maintain jobs in Winnipeg’s inner-city neighbourhoods.
What began with a few people challenging the way charitable dollars were being spent became a lasting commitment to investing in local employment, social enterprise and stronger communities.
Continue exploring LITE’s history: See LITE’s history timeline