Moosomin Food Share wins award from Second Harvest for accepting many big food donations
December 1, 2025, 2:34 pm
Nicole Taylor, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Moosomin Food Share is the winner of the Frontline Impact Award from Second Harvest for the Food Share’s role in accepting large surplus food donations and putting that food to use feeding the community.
Over the last year and a half, Moosomin Food Share has accepted eight large shipments from Second Harvest, and organization that takes surplus food and tries to find a use for it so that it doesn’t go to waste.
Moosomin has accepted a large shipment of bagged scrambled eggs, 38,000 pounds of apples, 1,700 boxes french fries, two shipments of 55,000 pounds of potatoes, 8,400 pounds of tomatoes, 25,200 dozen eggs, and most recently, a shipment of 11 pallets of bananas. In each case the Food Share was able to get rid of all the food quickly, and Samantha Campbell with the Food Share says in almost every case, people were still calling days later asking if the food was still available.
“They pick one organization from each province to win, and it’s for non-profits that demonstrated an incredible level of engagement that aligns with Second Harvest’s mission, and also has an outstanding impact on the community,” she says.
“It’s because of all of our shipments that we’ve been getting, and can distribute in a very fast turnaround period. They were really impressed. Katie Hepp from Second Harvest is our rep from Regina, and she came out for the potato shipment when the potatoes got stuck in the truck (due to a broken conveyor belt). She saw the things that went on with it and how we had to improvise and get the high school students out to help us, and she was really impressed, so when they were doing their awards, she nominated us and said we were completely deserving of it.
“In that case, the potatoes came in a truck, and the truck was supposed to have a belt where you push a button and the potatoes move out of the truck. We had all of these bins from Flaman’s that they donated. First they blew something and then we had to get Todd Davidson in to fix it, and I guess the truck wasn’t equipped to handle that much load, and so the potatoes were stuck.
“So we had to climb into the back of the truck and push thousands of pounds of potatoes down into the conveyor belt. We used our feet, our hands, we were black. And we were getting tired so we had to call the high school students to come, climb into the back of the truck and do the bins, it was crazy.”
Why does the Food Share keep accepting so many shipments from Second Harvest?
“Because I know we can get rid of them!” says Campbell. “It’s awesome that we can serve not just our community but the communities around us as well. We’re a non-profit, and we have to rely on people donating to us, so to be able to give back to the other communities and people that have helped us along the way, that’s why we keep doing it.”
The Frontline Impact Award is given out to one organization in every province each year. Campbell says it feels great to be recognized.
“It’s wonderful. I was very surprised when Katie called and told us we’d been nominated for the award and had won it. When you think of Regina and Saskatoon and bigger places like that, you think Moosomin’s not really on the map. These shipments and getting nominated is really putting us on the map so it feels great.”
Campbell says the Food Share will continue accepting shipments from Second Harvest because they know the food will be used.
“I told Katie, anything they are willing to give, we will take,” she says.
“She told me some cities will only accept two pallets of food. It doesn’t matter what kind of food it is, that’s what their capacity is that they can get rid of, and she said it’s amazing that Moosomin compared to the cities can move 25,000 dozen eggs.”
Campbell says the Vice-President of Second Harvest was dubious about a town the size of Moosomin being able to get rid of that many eggs, but Hepp assured her that Moosomin was the right place for the shipment. Campbell says the eggs were gone within a day.
“It feels good because Regina just does Regina, but we serve most of the southeast,” she says. “We have people come from as far away as Spy Hill, Redvers, Carlyle, Kipling, Grenfell, Virden, Cowessess, from Elkhorn. And for days after we have people calling or showing up asking “is there still bananas, are there still eggs.”
The Frontline Impact Award will be presented at an awards ceremony in Toronto in February and Campbell says she will be traveling to Toronto to accept the award.
“Each year, The Second Harvest Food Rescue Awards aim to highlight the incredible work of individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to food rescue efforts across Canada,” says Katie Hepp with Second Harvest. “The frontline impact award recognizes agency partners that have demonstrated an incredible level of engagement with Second Harvest’s mission, and have a truly outstanding impact in their community.
“Moosomin Food Share is the provincial winner of Second Harvest’s 2026 Frontline Impact Award for Saskatchewan.
“In a town of around 3,000 people, Moosomin Food Share has rescued over 195,000 pounds of food since October of 2024. Led by their incredible administrator, Sam Campbell, they have consistently rallied theirs, as well as surrounding communities, and worked closely with schools and other local organizations, to ensure these food donations are widely known and reach those who need them as quickly as possible.
“They are incredibly resourceful, having taken on several large-scale donations this year, upwards of 30,000 pounds each. When a 55,000-pound potato delivery had a conveyor malfunction, Sam and her team of volunteers climbed into the truck themselves to push potatoes out, then called in reinforcements from local high school students to help unload, bag, and distribute the donation across the region.
“We are thankful for Moosomin Food Share’s relentless dedication and the countless hours they pour into caring for their community and we are so proud to work alongside them in the fight against food waste and food insecurity here in our province.
“46.5 percent of all food in Canada is wasted every year. That’s nearly half of all the food, that our farmers, producers and manufactures are working tirelessly to provide to communities across this country, ending up in the landfill. No one who spends weeks or months or years producing food is doing so with the hope that it ultimately ends up in the garbage. The goal is for it to be eaten and enjoyed. When Moosomin food share is able to accept these full trailer load donations, often upwards of 30,000 pounds, that’s tens of thousands of pounds of food that gets to end up on people’s plates instead of becoming landfill.”
Hepp says it has been a pleasure working with Moosomin Food Share.
“Getting to know and work with the Moosomin Food Share, their volunteers and the residents within the community has been an absolute privilege.
“When we reach out to Sam with large donation offers, she never shies away from them. These are massive donations, and they’re a huge undertaking to receive and redistribute, but her instinct is always ‘yes, we will make this work’ and she does make it work, 100 pre cent of the time.
“What really stands out to me is how quickly they are able to turn these donations around. The way the entire community comes together to rally around these donations is really a sight to behold. Volunteers and community members show up, the food gets unloaded, and it doesn’t remain there for long. It’s received, sorted, and back out into the community at an extraordinary pace.
“When Moosomin Food Share accepts a donation, you know that food is going to end up in homes across the area very, very quickly.”
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