Local and Kenyan schoolchildren to benefit from return of Village Feast fundraiser - Action News
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PEI

Local and Kenyan schoolchildren to benefit from return of Village Feast fundraiser

The Village Feast charity fundraiser is returning to eastern P.E.I.after a three-year absence due to COVID-19.

Major charity fundraiser aimed at food lovers to be held in Souris on July 9

Cookhouse in Kenya.
Farmers Helping Farmers has built 22 cookhouses that provide meals for children in Kenya. (Submitted by Farmers Helping Farmers)

A popular summer highlight is returning to eastern P.E.I.after a three-year absence due to COVID-19 restrictions.

The Village Feast, a gourmet grilling event thatfeaturessteak,lobster and a variety of locally grown food, will be held on July 9 from 3-6 p.m. at a new location: Souris Regional School on Longworth Street.

The event, which has in the past drawnabout 1,000 people, is put on by community volunteers led by Chef Michael Smith and the Inn at Bay Fortune. It has been raisingmoney for local and global projects for more than a decade.

This year, organizers aim to raise about $50,000, which will go to charities including Coats for Kids, the Souris school breakfast program, and Farmers Helping Farmers.

Farmers Helping Farmers co-ordinator Teresa Mellish.
Teresa Mellish, co-ordinator with Farmers Helping Farmers, says the meals from the cookhouses are sometimes the only meals the Kenyan schoolchildren receive during the day. (Ken Linton/CBC)

Farmers Helping Farmers will use some of the money to build cookhouses at schools in rural Kenya. The cookhouses are on the school grounds, and will provide breakfast and lunch for the children, said Farmers Helping Farmers co-ordinator Teresa Mellish.

"Sometimes these meals are the only meals that the children do receive during the day," she said."The lunch meal may be the main meal of the day;they may not get much of a meal when they go home."

People gathered in a field.
Past Village Feasts have drawn crowds of about 1,000 people. (The Village Feast/Facebook)

Mellish said Farmers Helping Farmers has built 22 cookhouses so far with 17 of those using funds providedthrough the Village Feast.

Tickets for the eventstart at $75 and can be purchased through Eventbrite.

With files from Victoria Walton