The Weyburn chapter of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank is asking Weyburn and area farmers to donate grain or local citizens to give cash during the last week of their grain drive.

The drive began Nov. 20 and will end Dec. 20, although donations will be gratefully accepted after that date.

Producers are being asked to donate grain earmarked for the Foodgrains Bank at their local elevator. Cash donations are also welcome at the elevators, and several affiliated churches are collecting for the cause at their local Sunday services.

Local chairman Darwin Lackey says donations from area farmers, who have been struggling with low prices for the last couple of years, are down from the average of 100-150 tonnes.

However, grain donations across western Canada overall are up, thanks in part to growing projects where grain is grown from seed specifically for the Foodgrains Bank. One such project has taken place at Lake Alma.

Cash donations are also up from previous years. A fund-raising effort at Weyburn's Wheat Festival in August raised $3,183 alone. The cash pays for the shipment of grain, and to buy more food.

Grain collected during the drive will go to feed malnourished or starving people in Angola, North Korea, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Mozambique, Haiti, India and Kosovo. These countries are either plagued with ongoing hunger, war, floods or crop disasters.

The Canadian Foodgrains Bank was started in the mid-1970s as a response to extreme famine in Ethiopia. It expanded to include 12 church partners and local chapters all over Canada collecting and shipping grain to needy areas around the world. The Weyburn branch was formed in 1989.

The Canadian government shares the cost of most food shipments at a ratio of four to one through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). All the grain is gathered and handled through the Canadian Wheat Board.

Hundreds of volunteers across Canada help keep administration costs low. Because most partner shipments are distributed through known church agencies overseas, around 95 per cent of the food shipped is used as intended.