Lunch fundraiser, a collaborative effort, supports Sioux Lookout Food Bank

Tim Brody - Editor

“It was such a generous thing and so many helped out… just so encouraging how the community came together to do this,” Sioux Lookout Food Bank Manager Amanda Landgraff said of a recent collaborative fundraising effort for the Sioux Lookout Food Bank.
On April 14, the Forest Inn & Conference Centre and Dick & Nellie’s Bar and Grill partnered with the Rotary Club of Sioux Lookout on a lunch fundraiser in support of the food bank.
Meals of vegetable Dum Biryani, garden salad, and raita were prepared by staff members from The Forest Inn & Conference Centre and Dick & Nellie’s Bar and Grill and sold by Rotary Club of Sioux Lookout members at the Forest Inn for $10 a plate.
In total, 322 meals were sold. Additional donations were also received.
The Forest Inn & Conference Centre and Dick & Nellie’s Bar and Grill matched what the fundraising lunch brought in and last Thursday (April 24), staff from the Forest Inn & Conference Centre and Dick & Nellie’s Bar and Grill, along with members of the Rotary Club of Sioux Lookout, presented the Sioux Lookout Food Bank with a cheque for $6,670.
“It’s amazing. I didn’t expect anything this big. Sioux Lookout has such generous hearts,” Landgraff said, adding, “I’m just blown away. It was awesome.”
The Sioux Lookout Food Bank has been fundraising for the rest of the funds needed to complete a new building for the organization to work out of.
Rotary Club of Sioux Lookout President Andreas Kottschoth explained that Karamjeet (Kam) Singh, part owner of the Forest Inn who also manages the Sunset Inn and Suites which Dick and Nellie’s is part of, reached out to the Rotary Club about combining efforts on a lunch fundraiser.
A Rotarian suggested the Sioux Lookout Food Bank as the recipient of the collaborative effort.
“We were blown away too by the Forest Inn (and Dick and Nellie’s) and Kam’s generosity,” Kottschoth said. 
This is the third time the Forest Inn and Sunset Suites (Dick and Nellie’s) have held a lunchtime fundraiser to support the community. The two previous occasions were fundraisers for the Sioux Lookout Meno Ya Win Health Centre Foundation for a new MRI unit for Sioux Lookout. 
“This is something we’ve been doing the past few years,” Singh explained. “The idea is definitely the same, giving back to the community.”
“We thought let’s do it together. We had great help from the Rotary volunteers and our people who helped us,” Singh said.
“We thought the food bank definitely could us more money. They have a lot going on right now working on the building,” Singh added.
Singh said the plan is to continue to make the charitable lunch fundraiser an annual event.