Sierra Noble breaks into tears, talks about food bank helping her family

Sierra Noble has worked hardto become a successful musician but said it's nothing compared to what her mom has done.

The 26-year-oldsinger-songwriterandfiddle player broke intotears Friday during a benefit forWinnipeg Harvest food bank.

Noble, whose success has taken her around the world and allowed her to shareastage with musical greats like BonJoviand PaulMcCartney, performed in the CBC Manitoba studio as part of the annual Harvesting Hope charity drive.

The singer-songwriter learned the night before that Winnipeg's food bank greatly helped her own family.

She was telling her mom about the upcoming benefit and how she has always felt connected to Winnipeg Harvest and wanted to lend a hand to the agency. That's when her mom revealed the family, shortly after moving to Winnipeg from Ottawa in 1990, was struggling and turned to the food bank for a hamper a collection of food and other necessities.

"She said she doesn't know what she would have done without that and how much it meant to her," Noble said, her words trembling.

"I had no idea."

• Harvesting Hope food bank drive raises $35.5K in first 2.5 hours
• How to donate toCBC Manitoba's Harvesting Hope

Noble said her mom was a single parent who moved to Winnipeg with three daughters. At the time, Noble was the youngest and only a few months old.

"She was on her own with three kids in a new city. [She] really didn't know anybody and didn't have a lot and didn't have any work yet,"Noble said. "I can't imagine how hard it was for her."

CBC'sHarvesting Hope is a day-long fundraiser that features inspiring stories of both hardship and cheer. Noble's story was an unplanned one that even caught herself by surprise.

It left her wipingaway a lot of tears for some performances and also left CBC host Marcy Markusa and Winnipeg Harvestexecutive directorDavid Northcottin much the same predicament.

"Thank-you, David, for everything that you do and to everyone who donates to Harvest," Noble said.

"It's not always people who have messed up in life [that need help], it's just we're people and we're doing our best."