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Published Aug 05, 2023<\/span> \u00a0\u2022\u00a0 Last updated 3\u00a0hours ago<\/span> \u00a0\u2022\u00a0 2 minute read<\/span> <\/p>\n
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People line up for the French pavilion food at the Edmonton Heritage Festival on Saturday, Aug. 5, 2023 in Edmonton. <\/span> Photo by Greg Southam<\/span> \/Postmedia<\/span> <\/p>\nArticle content<\/h2>\n
Hunger never does, and never will, have a season.<\/p>\n
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It growls and pains 24\/7. So does the exhausted mental toughness, knowing you\u2019re hungry and searching for your next meal.<\/p>\n
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Very early on in my journalistic journey the executive director of United Way made a most profound statement which has stuck with me like chunky peanut butter and cornmeal porridge.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s a real shame we have a food bank in Edmonton,\u201d said the late Hillel Boroditsky while, ironically, enjoying lunch in a downtown hotel.<\/p>\n
But we do. And thank the Good Lord we do.<\/p>\n
And there\u2019s a face, a very human face, graceful and spilling over with her empathy to help make people who are hungry.<\/p>\n
Take a bow, Marjorie Bencz.<\/p>\n
She\u2019ll no doubt be blushing now, because Bencz prefers the spotlight angled towards the volunteers and the donors who support the Edmonton Food Bank.<\/p>\n
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And, of course its clients, who are, sadly, hungry.<\/p>\n
The August long weekend is busy for Bencz and her army of supporters: the food bank has teamed up with the Edmonton Heritage Festival, making the annual three-day extravaganza into one of the food bank\u2019s collection drives.<\/p>\n
Bencz followed the festival north from its normal Hawrelak Park home \u2014 which is in the midst of a grass-over \u2014 to the Expo Centre.<\/p>\n
The collection of tents from international representatives proudly sharing their ethnic food and traditions is right smack in the middle of the horse track of Northlands.<\/p>\n
The need \u2014 Edmontonians who are hungry \u2014 is also still there.<\/p>\n
Bencz keeps on promoting that important topic.<\/p>\n
That, dear reader, is remarkable.<\/p>\n
Annual charitable drives have the same need and same ask for help.<\/p>\n
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It\u2019s a creative marketing brainchild coming up with the same message but, somehow spinning it with a new twist, a new angle, without losing the fundamental grassroots of the ask.<\/p>\n
Without casting an iota of blame on talented folks who are charged with parading press releases and story pitches to the media, perhaps a popular sports analogy on coaches is aptly applicable.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have lost the room,\u201d is how it goes.<\/p>\n
A coach\u2019s message absolutely has an expiry date when it\u2019s no longer effective.<\/p>\n
Though I have not posed the question, it exists: do communication staffers of charities feel their creativity has run out, say, after three or four years?<\/p>\n
Moreover, and to their credit, is there a self-awareness they feel, especially in their heart, of hitting the creative empty tank?<\/p>\n
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In that case, the decision to resign their duties would be commendable.<\/p>\n
Bencz is unique.<\/p>\n
Since taking over the food bank\u2019s executive director role in 1989, Bencz has not only been the face of the food bank, she has told its stories perhaps tens of thousands of times.<\/p>\n
It takes talent to do so, certainly.<\/p>\n
But it also takes a deep personal conviction, far beyond the scope of being an employee.<\/p>\n
As a member of the Order of Canada and other prestigious decorations, others recognize her passion.<\/p>\n
So, Boroditsky is right: shame, it is, Edmonton has a food bank.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s a treasure we have Majorie Bencz at its helm.<\/p>\n
camtait58@gmail.com<\/p>\n
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