Geoffrey Lougheed was elected chair of the Food Banks Canada Network Council at the group's annual meeting in Calgary recently.
This council is made up of two representatives from each provincial council across Canada. They are the flagbearer for more than 3,000 food banks and food programs that feed more than 860,000 Canadians every month. Last year they shared over 18 million pounds of food to fight hunger.
Lougheed has a long history in Food Banks and was a pioneer leader in Sudbury.
"Before food banks, there was the kindness of neighbours, church pantries and soup kitchens," Lougheed said. “As the number of hungry increased there became a need for the food bank."
Lougheed's passion for the hungry first became evident as a child.
"My dad was the chair of the Sudbury Salvation Army advisory board,” he said. “Our family would serve as volunteers every year at the Christmas Feast for the Poor and it gave me a good feeling to help others.”
He went on to follow in his father's footsteps as a young man and chair that same board for over a decade.
It was during this phase in his life that he became close friends with Rev. Fr. B.J. McKee, who operated Catholic Charities in Sudbury. They put their energies together, and with the support of Tom Davies and Ray Loiselle, they founded the Sudbury Food Bank in 1988.
Today this food bank serves more than 14,000 Sudburians every month, and when they opened their new warehouse off Lorne Street three years ago, it was named in Lougheed's honour.
Lougheed has served on the Ontario Food Bank Association for six years, as well as Food Banks Canada for four years.
"When I started, we thought of food banks as as band-aid solution to the problem of hunger, but today food banks have become an important part of our society's social net that protects the most vulnerable,” he said.
“Food Banks Canada provides a strong voice in the fight against hunger. We pray for the day there is no need of food banks, but until that day, we will feed the hungry.
“I am honored to be given this opportunity to serve and look forward to the challenge.”
