MCC Canada relocating Manitoba relief supplies warehouse

A group of volunteers display a blanket they made during a Great Winter Warm-up event on Jan. 20, 2020, at the Mennonite Central Committee Material Resources Centre in Plum Coulee, Man. Together the group finished 150 comforters for delivery to families who have been displaced by conflict or disaster. — Mennonite Central Committee A group of volunteers display a blanket they made during a Great Winter Warm-up event on Jan. 20, 2020, at the Mennonite Central Committee Material Resources Centre in Plum Coulee, Man. Together the group finished 150 comforters for delivery to families who have been displaced by conflict or disaster. — Mennonite Central Committee

Mennonite Central Committee Canada announced Jan. 7 it will relocate its material resources warehouse from Plum Coulee, Man., to New Hamburg, Ont., effective April 1.

The transition will facilitate more rapid distribution of relief supplies by reducing the number of Canadian shipping sites and locating the central warehouse closer to an international port. The move will also allow for canned meat, produced by volunteers in Ontario with MCC’s mobile meat canner, to be stored in and shipped directly from Ontario.

MCC Canada and MCC Manitoba jointly operated the Material Resources Centre warehouse in Plum Coulee since 2004. The location will close June 30. One full-time role will be eliminated.

“The material resources warehouse in Plum Coulee has truly been a gathering place for communities in southern Manitoba for comforter making, kit packing and volunteering,” said MCC Manitoba executive director Darryl Loewen. “We are grateful for the role that the warehouse has served to connect volunteers and supporters with MCC’s material resources work.”

The closure of the Plum Coulee warehouse means community members will no longer be able to gather for volunteer activities or drop off donations at that location.

“Volunteers are the heartbeat of MCC’s work, and we are actively pursuing new ways to engage with them, whether they sewed comforters or donated essential items for relief distributions through the warehouse,” Loewen said.

Manitobans will still be able to volunteer and drop off kits and comforters at MCC’s material resource center in Winnipeg pandemic after restrictions are lifted.

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