VIDEO: 'We can't lose it,' mayor says of Harvest Algoma

A plan to save Harvest Algoma from the brink of closure is back on the table, but only if city council agrees tonight to provide $180,000 in total funding over the next three years.

As SooToday first reported, a last-ditch effort to have the program taken over by the Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre (SSMIC) fell through last month, leaving the future of Harvest Algoma in serious jeopardy.

Launched in 2018, the United Way program provides much-needed food to area shelters, food banks and other front-line organizations. 

If approved, the cash injection from the city would help support the transformation of Harvest Algoma from a money-losing charitable program to an eventual social enterprise.

"We've had Harvest Algoma now for five years and we have seen the benefit of it," said Mayor Matthew Shoemaker, during a recent interview in our downtown SooToday studio. "We can't lose it. It will make the situation worse in our community, and so I've gotten actively involved in trying to bring community partner agencies to the table to commit funding to its continuing existence."

"All the commitments we're asking for at this point are for three years so that we can get out of the crisis, put it on proper footing, and allow it to thrive from there."

SooToday will livestream tonight's city council meeting at 5 p.m. 

You can watch the mayor's full interview with SooToday HERE.