Climate Change Connection (CCC) is a non-profit organization in Manitoba that is dedicated to changing the ways society is impacting the planet. In 2023, as they advocated for refining our effects on the environment, they received support from a local group of women religious. This generous gift became the cornerstone of progress on reduction of food waste in Winnipeg and Brandon.
When The Grey Nuns of Montréal, the Sisters of the Holy Cross, the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, the Sisters of the Cross, the Missionary Oblate Sisters of St. Boniface, the Soeurs du Sauveur as well as the Sisters of our Lady of the Missions decided they wanted to respond to Laudato Si, a call from Pope Francis to care for the earth, they asked Réseau Compassion Network to help them find the right way to make an impact with a combined donation of $100,000. This is how the partnership with Climate Change Connection began.
The staff at CCC, run by a small team of three people, proposed that this support could be the beginning of meaningful changes to how surplus food is treated in Manitoba. “After meeting with stakeholders in hospitality, health care and non-profit across the province, we discovered that the obstacle to redistributing food isn’t that there’s not enough to go around, but mostly that there weren’t enough ways to get it to those who need it,” explains Jennifer MacRae, Manager of Food Rescue and Emissions Reduction at CCC. “Most companies set up for profit overproduce to ensure they have what they need; their goal is to run a business, not to feed people in need. So, we knew we had to bridge that gap or all that food would continue to go to the landfill.”
Working with local organizations like Community Helpers Unite and The Leftovers, CCC has purchased and installed five refrigerated containers in neighbourhoods that are known as “food deserts” and have become a place to store fruits, vegetables and even frozen products. “We’ve partnered with Manitoba Harvest and other service providers to take the food that they can’t redistribute for any number of reasons,” explains MacRae. “Currently, there is 8,500 pounds of food being diverted and redistributed per container, per month. Food is getting to those who need it and the impact to the environment is significant.”
The City of Winnipeg has a guideline for how to measure the impacts of food waste on the planet; every pound of food diverted results is 1.9 pounds of emissions reduced. In August, 2025, with only two containers operational, CCC reported it had been able to divert 137,000 pounds of rescued food, which equals an estimated 260,300 pounds of methane emissions prevented.
“We’ve also been moving forward on important conversations with government, universities, and organizations in northern Manitoba to see how we could reduce food insecurity there, as well,” MacRae shares. “We couldn’t have done any of this without the support we received from the Sisters. We wouldn’t have gotten the ear of policymakers; we wouldn’t have been able to grow this program. Their generosity made such a difference to this work, and we are so grateful.”
For their part, the Sisters are thrilled to hear of the progress being made. “I’m so very impressed with all that they’ve done,” shares Sister Veronica Dunne from Sisters of Our Lady of the Mission. “Not only the work to divert the food waste, but the connections they’re making are so important. We all have to be on board to make a real change.”
MacRae shares that CCC understands its role in fighting climate change through the reduction of food waste. “Our job going forward is to keep connecting and keep reminding distributors and suppliers that we’re here, that there is a place they can call to keep their waste out of the landfill, and put it into the hands of those who need it most.”