CFC member Agape Table serves up community nourishment

Jim Steep, executive director of Agape Table (pronounced ah-GAW-pay), reports that demand for the non-profit’s services has grown with rising food prices. The organization has been serving breakfast to some of Winnipeg’s most vulnerable residents for 44 years.

“The number of guests we’re serving right now averages about 720 to 950 people per morning and it’s been as high as 1,010, which really stretches us to the limit,” says Jim. 

Community nourishment 

Agape Table serves breakfast five mornings per week, distributes food hampers twice a week through Harvest Manitoba, and shares donated food with local shelters, soup kitchens, food banks and seniors’ residences. 

Its guests (they’re never referred to as ‘clients,’ always welcomed as guests) include people living with poverty, homelessness, joblessness, underemployment and disabilities, as well as new immigrants and low-income seniors. 

“Agape is a Greek word meaning unconditional love and that’s kind of what we do at Agape Table,” Jim says. 

A challenging economy

As inflation and interest rates climb, Jim’s team has a lot of new names to learn. 

“We’ve had people phone us saying ‘I feel so bad about this, I’ve never had to do this before, I’ve never had to ask for food before.’ This is a whole other sector of people now that need food,” says Jim. 

Agape Table is also preparing 40 to 50 more food hampers per week than it used to. Although most of its food is donated, the team is still feeling the pinch of inflation.  

“The biggest difference is the cost of supplies. It’s over $50,000 per year for sure. If you think about 700 to 1000 paper bags, bowls, lids and spoons five days a week, it adds up,” Jim says.

Agape Table has served more than 150,000 meals in 2024. 

Partnership with ACU

Agape Table chose Assiniboine Credit Union (ACU) as their financial partner after seeing Community Financial Centre’s (CFC) member-centric approach and focus on relationship building. The team at Agape is confident that ACU’s support aids their mission to deliver hot meals to Manitobans in need.

“Banks that we dealt with before, they honestly weren’t interested in this project,” Jim admits. “But ACU is well known for supporting non-profit initiatives. They’re really about the community and that’s what we love about them. Bill led us through this entire process and we couldn’t ask for anybody better to work with.” 

Bill Dinsdale, Senior Commercial Account Manager – Not for Profit Specialist at ACU, is just as enthusiastic about the CFC-Agape Table partnership as Jim. 

“When Jim was working on the project, I told him right up front how excited I was,” he says. “We were thrilled to be chosen because Agape Table is a truly unique, really amazing organization and this is a great project. So I told him that, because I think it is very important that they know it’s not just about the financial transaction. Being a part of this brings me joy.” 

ACU is proud to serve the Winnipeg community through its partnership with Agape Table.

If you would like to support the essential work Agape Table does in the community,  you can donate here.

About Christine Wong

Christine Wong has been covering business and technology since 1995, when Mark Zuckerberg was in sixth grade. A former associate producer at Business News Network and Slice TV, Wong freelances while chasing after the biggest story of her life — Ben, who is 10.

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