Jump to a Profile (in Alphabetical Order by Last Name):
Curtis Anderson | Shelley Ballard | Sheri Benson | Maura Davies | Amy Jo Ehman | Ann Foster | Claire Ewert Fisher | Whitney Graves | John Lagimodiere |
Anthony McCarthy | Lesia Payne | Marcel Petit | Brenna Temple
Whitney Graves
Radio Personality
Whitney Graves can be heard Monday to Friday morning on Rock 102. This is the kind of woman who has met Zakk Wylde, is licensed to use a gun, and her “sexy” outfit is a Waynes World t-shirt. She keeps it simple with Pilsner, the Riders, fishing and hot dogs. She still thinks the ‘pull my finger’ joke is funny.
As an advocate for many issues, Whitney jumped at the chance to challenge stereotypes that surround poverty. A word of warning, her honesty may gross you out, as she often hears the phrase “too much information.” Read her unfiltered blog as she undergoes what could be the hardest week of her life.
Brenna Temple
John Gormley Live Producer/ Journalist 
Brenna Temple produces the John Gormley Live show at CKOM and CJME.
She was the Editor of the British Columbia Institute of Technology’s newspaper the Link and recently won the school’s Silver Pen Award for excellence in journalism. She has diplomas in both print and broadcast journalism and is currently tackling her English literature degree from the University of British Columbia.
You can catch her on the airwaves of CKOM, usually arguing with John Gormley about contentious (or at least hilarious) issues. She is also the author of Brennaintherain.com where she writes about everything from books to journalism issues.
Brenna is excited to participate in the Food Basket Challenge. New to Saskatoon from Vancouver she’s spent time shooting a documentary in the Downtown Eastside. She is interested in examining the social stigmas connected to poverty and hopes to jumpstart important dialogue about such as a result of participating in this challenge.
Maura Davies
President and Chief Executive Officer, Saskatoon Health Region
Maura Davies is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Saskatoon Health Region. Saskatoon Health Region, the largest health region in Saskatchewan, provides a comprehensive range of services and programs including acute care, long term care, public health, home care, mental health and addiction services.
Maura has over 35 years experience in health care as a clinical dietitian, educator and senior executive. She has a Bachelor degree in science, a Bachelor degree in education and a Masters degree in health services administration. Maura is a Fellow of the Canadian College of Health Service Executives and a surveyor for Accreditation Canada. Maura is the Board Chair of the Canadian Patient Safety Institute, and is on the boards of directors for the Saskatchewan Academic Health Sciences Network and Saskatchewan Health Quality Council. She holds a part time faculty appointment in the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology at the University of Saskatchewan. Maura has been recognized as one of the Top10 Women of Influence in Saskatchewan by Saskatchewan Business Magazine and as one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women by the Women’s Executive Network.
Ann Foster
Radio Personality, Author
Ann Foster moved to Saskatoon from Halifax, NS, four years ago and is now happy to call Saskatoon home (yes, even in the winter). She has hosted CFCR-FM’s The Book Show (www.facebook.com/thebookshow), a radio show for readers, for three years. By day, she works as a Librarian for the public library, and by night is the author of Shopping Detox, (www.shoppingdetox.com) an irreverent personal finance blog that combines tips for frugal living with total silliness. She is interested to join the conversation about poverty, although she is a very picky eater and nervous about how long she’ll be able to last in the challenge!
Curtis Anderson
Television Producer and Host
Curtis Anderson has been the A&E Reporter at Shaw TV for over six years and is also the producer/host of the award winning Stripped Down; Saskatchewan’s only one hour local music showcase, but his proudest moment at Shaw has been creating The Shaw Toy Tree- an inner city school toy drive located at the WDM each Christmas season. Outside of Shaw he just celebrated his 12th anniversary with his beautiful wife Kazia and together they have one son, Noah. When he’s not at Shaw interviewing people like Kevin Smith and Dan Aykroyd (big name drop) he stays busy with various writing projects and tries to stay as active as possible after losing 75 pounds in 2001. Curtis is very excited to be a part of this initiative and is curious to see how this all plays out.
Claire Ewert Fisher
Executive Director, Mennonite Central Committee Saskatchewan
Claire Ewert Fisher is the Executive Director of MCCS at their offices in Saskatoon. She has also served with MCC in Viet Nam, Thailand, the Philippines and Winnipeg, Canada for a total of 8 years. Working with local indigenous communities in these countries has made her keenly aware of food needs for those who live on marginally fertile land and who are often marginalized by economic and political structures. She is the wife of one, mother of two and grandmother of two.
Sheri Benson
Executive Director, United Way of Saskatoon and Area
Sheri Benson is the Executive Director of United Way of Saskatoon and Area, an organization she is honoured to have been involved with for the past 15 years.
United Way is a unique, local community based organization. It engages community members, providing opportunity to invest dollars, time, and energy into important local programs and services that impact and
improve people’s lives, creating sustainable and meaningful change to social issues in our community.
Sheri has worked for more than 20 years in the Saskatoon community based sector in both direct service and community development. She has been involved in the areas of housing for those with mental illness, women in conflict with the law, public legal education, human rights and advocacy with those living in poverty.
Sheri is pleased to be a participant in the Food Basket Challenge and eager to deepen her own personal understanding of what many people in our community do to provide food for themselves and their families.
Having grown up in five different cities and three different provinces, Sheri is happy to call Saskatoon home and couldn’t imagine living anywhere else (except perhaps for a few weeks in January)!
Lesia Payne
Web & Software Designer, Foodie, “Crunchy” Mom 
Lesia has been running a small yet successful web design company, Lesia Design, for the past 5 years. Not only is she passionate about her business, but she has recently become very passionate about food as well as maintaining as much of a natural, chemical-free home and environment as possible.
Moving from Vancouver to Saskatoon in 2009 to start a family, Lesia became pregnant with her son Liam (now 14 months old). The pregnancy completely changed the way she looked at food and the food choices that she made. Although always a healthy eater, Lesia admits that she didn’t pay much attention to where her food came from and whether or not it was agriculturally or economically sustainable. She also became more aware of the potential dangers and use of pesticides in the food we eat on a daily basis. Since the beginning of her pregnancy, Lesia and her family have been fortunate enough to be able to eat as much organically grown, local, and sustainable foods as possible. She feels strongly that this is the best choice in terms of personal health as well as the environment; unfortunately, she understands that it is currently not economically feasible for many. However, Lesia has high hopes for the future of agriculture.
Lesia is passionate about community enjoys donating her skills to local community based organizations and associations. When asked to be part of the Food Basket Challenge, Lesia was honoured and humbled. She is looking forward to participating in this challenge and hopes to spark discussions on food and poverty in Saskatchewan. She will be partaking in the challenge with her husband Chris, as well as son Liam.
John Lagimodiere
Publisher, Editor, Broadcaster, Consultant
John Lagimodiere is a Saskatoon born Métis entrepreneur with a diverse background that enables him to deliver a monthly publication and build a successful consulting business.
Lagimodiere’s media experience extends beyond publishing Eagle Feather News to include hosting his own national CBC radio show, As If, which won a regional Radio and Television News Director Award, guest hosting for CBC radio programs regionally and nationally and providing political commentary for television and radio.
In his consulting business, Lagimodiere works with a variety of clients in the public and private sector that are looking to hire, retain, and build relationships with Aboriginal people. He also sits on various boards and committees such as the Affinity Credit Union District Council, Employment Insurance Board of Referees and the Batoche National Historic Site Shared Management Board.
Shelley Ballard
Inspector, Saskatoon Police Service
Inspector Shelley Ballard has been with the Saskatoon Police Service for 24 years. She presently oversees policing operations for the Central Division Patrol area, which includes the neighborhoods of Riversdale, King George, Pleasant Hill, Meadowgreen, Mount Royal, Westmount, Hudson Bay Park, Caswell Hill, City Park, and the Downtown and Riversdale Business Improvement Districts.
In 2009 Shelley formed the Central Division Advisory Committee, which includes representatives from each of the community and business associations within the Division. The committee is designed to provide citizens with information about crime-related issues and policing initiatives and to establish a means for them to bring forward community concerns and ideas on crime-reduction strategies in their neighborhoods. In March 2011, Shelley received a Community Policing Award from the Saskatchewan Association of Chiefs of Police for her work with this Committee.
Shelley is also the Police representative on the Building Health Equity Advisory Committee, the Project ID Committee, and the Panhandling Task Force. She has taken part in many Poverty Awareness Week events and has organized donations to the Saskatoon Food Bank from Police Service employees for the past two years.
In her “other” life, Shelley and her husband, Andrew McKinlay, have enjoyed mountain climbing adventures around the world. Their travels have ranged from the Canadian Rockies, the Washington Cascades, Alaska and the Yukon to Australia, New Zealand, East Africa, Argentina, Ecuador and Peru, and the Himalayan ranges in Nepal, Tibet and Pakistan.
Shelley and Andrew adopted a vegetarian diet in 2008 in order to improve their eating habits and to reduce their environmental impact. They are strong supporters of local, organic food and shop at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market every week.
Marcel Petit
Producer, Filmmaker, Photographer
Marcel Petit is an independent producer, filmmaker and photographer from Saskatoon, SK where he runs an independent production company m.pet productions. He is also currently the Executive Director at the Core Neighborhood Youth Co-op (www.cnyc.ca) in Saskatoon, an alternative education, life skills and social skills youth organization.
Marcel has several film/video works to his name including a few short dramatic pieces to several short videos to 3 feature documentaries; hookers. a documentary (2008), The PISIM Project (2010) and the Jim Brady Story (2011). He is a community activist, environmentalist and believes in change for a better future.
He is currently working on several different projects to keep him busy that include a few feature documentaries, a few short dramatic pieces and music videos. He has also had three public showing of his photography.
Amy Jo Ehman
Author, Journalist
Amy Jo Ehman is a writer with a special interest in Saskatchewan food and agriculture. For one year, she and her husband John set the challenge of eating only Saskatchewan-grown foods at their home in Saskatoon. That adventure was the basis for her book Prairie Feast: A Writer’s Journey Home for Dinner, which has been shortlisted for the 2011 Cuisine Canada Book Award.
Obviously, Amy Jo loves a challenge and is excited to take part in the first Saskatoon Food Basket Challenge.
A country girl at heart (she grew up on a farm at Craik), Amy Jo keeps a garden at home and has a plot in the City Park Community Garden. She also sits on the Board of Directors of CHEP and is a member of the Saskatoon Food Coalition. She writes a local food column in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix and blogs at HomeForDinner.blogspot.com.
Anthony McCarthy
Executive Chef, The Saskatoon Club
Anthony went to college in Banbury, England where he took his City & Guilds cooking courses. Leaving college and heading straight into the industry where a couple of short stints in hotels then led him to a small fine French restaurant in Oxford, it was there he began to quickly understand the workings of a professional kitchen.
Since arriving in Saskatoon in August of 2007 Anthony has been very active in wanting to bring the best products to his menus, using local producers whenever possible and is continuing to pursue these relationships and build on them.
He is the President of the CCFCC, Saskatoon branch (Canadian Culinary Federation of Chefs and Cooks) and just been elected to serve another term.
He won the chefs challenge 2008/9 and was voted Chef of the year 2009 and again in 2010 by his peers
He competed in October of 2010, against 9 other chefs in the Gold Medal Plates competition, an organisation dedicated to raising funds for Canadian Olympic athletes, where he received the bronze medal.
Anthony, Anastasia, Jacob and Thomas call Saskatoon their home.
August 25, 2011 at 2:07 am
hi, old friend how you doing? i’m so happy that you are so successful, far cry from c.chef. i don’t miss working at all. well take care. marge
September 2, 2011 at 2:40 pm
I do wish you all well, and I know that you will become hungry very quick. I would of been nice to see people taking the challenge from social service and a city council. Will look foward to your thoughts over the week.
September 2, 2011 at 4:02 pm
This is awesome! I’ve always thought a project like this would open the eyes of fortunate Saskatoonians to how hard it can be living below the poverty line and relying on the food from the foodbank to feed yourself and your family. As Colleen mentioned, it would be nice to see city councellors from more fortunate wards, and Social Services management and. I’d like to add, some politicians (particularily the Minister of Social Services).
I have personal experience with this kind of challenge – however it was very real and not a choice. I know that it will be very hard, and very challenging. Good Luck!
September 3, 2011 at 2:34 pm
right on Anita, it will not be a easy route for the people that are doing the challenge. it is only one week for them, but aweek can be a life time when your belly is empty. noodles will fill you for a bit but if you also have stuff you have an idea to cook or your kids will not will not eat, it take a toll on your mine. As stated good luck to the particupates, but I would like most is if we can really hear what your mind is thinking on the web. Is it doing good, did you know how to make it, and if you become more depress day my day??????.
September 6, 2011 at 9:10 pm
Thank you, Anita!
September 8, 2011 at 3:51 pm
So nice to see so many prominent amazing people in our community volunteering for this challenge.
I can’t wait to hear from you all! I’d love to hear your thoughts as we are less than a week away. I’m going to try post my own thoughts soon.
September 12, 2011 at 2:34 pm
Having had to use the Food Bank twice about 5 years ago, I am hoping they received the type of food we received so they get the picture of what it is really like. For a family of three we were given enough food that was supposed to last three days. Even then, I was given more junk food than anything and what we received just didn’t make sense. I was given five loaves of bread, three of which were moldy. It wasn’t nearly enough for three days given that most of it I couldn’t use for a meal. Thankfully, it motivated me to work hard so I wouldn’t be there again.
September 12, 2011 at 2:41 pm
best of luck to you all! especially those with children taking part in this challenge. feeding a family is difficult at the best of times , but more so with limited resources. i congratulate all of you on your bravery to walk a mile in another’s shoes and in doing so learning about something which is usually out of your scope, but is a day to day issue for so many others. i am looking forward to hearing all your thoughts on your food baskets as well as how you plan to cope with the limitations……i have done it many times myself and know from experience that since necessity is the mother of invention, you are all about to become very creative inventors, at least where food is concerned.
September 12, 2011 at 4:09 pm
I don’t know any of you, but somehow I feel very proud of all of you! Thank-you
September 13, 2011 at 6:24 pm
Repost:
Colleen Hamilton
September 11, 2011 at 4:34 pm Edit →
It has been very interesting on comments and thoughts of all the particupants. Butter is not a word that is used much by people that access the Food Bank, Margerine and the cheapest and the biggest is the thoughts of many families.
We wonder why there is so much health issues and why families are not eating fruits and veggies, well I know that when I lived on welfare with three children (and trying to work, when I could find a babysitter) that was the very last thing on my list, cause I had to plan to make hamburger in so many different ways. Wanting better foods would way in the back of my mind and they only was it would be available is if I stole it from the store. Just think how it made me feel with my children with me, trying to plan how I could steal food to feed them. I did not to this two many times, but I did feel a bit of relief that I had feed my children for one more day.. Fill those bellys no matter way I could.
To this day I still feel that I can not eat in front of people (it scared me for life) that why am I eating when there is children are not getting food. You can ask many of my coworkers, that they rarely see me eat in front of people, it bothers me that much.
September 14, 2011 at 1:30 pm
Thank you to all of the participants for doing this – awareness is so desperately needed. I look forward to reading all of the posts. Would have been interesting if all of the participants had physicals (blood work, etc) at the beginning then another physical after one week of not eating properly to really show the impact of poverty on health
September 15, 2011 at 3:13 pm
true ? You can make squash iced drinks with little sugar but a lot of fruit and squash. don’t forget the unforgettable raw vegetables that were rotten and that the food like bread was squashed flat you could make bread pudding . I hope the food basket challenge helps.
We also took cans that had no labels and made casseroles they weren’t bad tasting .
September 16, 2011 at 7:02 am
I have been following the Food Basket Challenge for the past few days. Thank you to both the organizers and the participants for having the courage to live outside your comfort zone – even if only for one week.
The reality of poverty is that children and families are forced to rely on “rations” everyday.
Society rations what they are willing to give, whether or not it really fills the need.
It is ironic that the challenge takes place during harvest time and also during a booming economy. Gardens and trees have plenty of produce, but is it accessible to those who need it? How do we plan to have a harvest (relieve poverty) when we have not planted the seeds? Or the crop was wiped out because of a hail storm (government program or funding cuts)?
Poverty is not a choice. What gets and keeps children and human beings there is.
Think of the items in the basket in terms of food, shelter, safety, health care, social services or justice. What if you needed protection or your children needed access to services and there was none in the basket this week? Can you imagine what THAT is like? It doesn’t matter that all the other items are there…one essential piece is missing…what do you do?
We have become complacent in thinking that safety nets and governments will protect those most vulnerable. Yet these are often the ones that cause the most harm and perpetuate the problem.
Good luck trying to get anyone in social services to take the challenge. I wonder who would take away their children and cause them irreparable harm? (Wait a minute…the rest of us have a conscience…)
To understand poverty, try to imagine making something without all the pieces. It doesn’t matter how creative, how persistent or how determined you are. Without all of the essential needs it is a constant struggle just to survive. The stress levels are enormous. The Foodbank and the Friendship Inn provide meals and do help the struggling to survive. But they are only one small part of the solution.
A harsh reminder of how tragic poverty can be happened recently in Wascana Lake. A man drowned while his friend desperately tried to get help. NO ONE would listen or even call for help until it was too late. They were all too busy, too afraid, too judgmental, too complacent to save a life. One small act could have saved him! I wonder if they would do the same thing to a family member or friend?
Or to someone who didn’t appear to be poor?
I pray that this challenge will raise awareness that those facing poverty are not there because they volunteered to be. Do not be afraid to see us and the problems we face. Have the courage to reach out and to help. Have the strength to listen to our stories and to learn from our experience. Have the heart to encourage us and cheer us on.
The RIGHT HELP at the RIGHT TIME can have a powerful impact. Plant the seed.
September 16, 2011 at 8:30 am
Thank you for speaking out. As you point out, hunger is only part of the problem. Far too many people in Saskatoon are coping with hunger, ill health, lack of adequate housing – and the list goes on and on. I wish you well.