Helping

Bear Clan

2 p.m.
By: William Whyte Posted: 3:20 PM CDT Thursday, Aug. 9, 2018

The Bear Clan’s donated 2012 Chevy Silverado pickup weaves its way between the North End and Sage Creek on the city’s southeast outskirts in 20 minutes flat.

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The Bear Clan’s donated 2012 Chevy Silverado pickup weaves its way between the North End and Sage Creek on the city’s southeast outskirts in 20 minutes flat.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/08/2018 (2234 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Bear Clan’s donated 2012 Chevy Silverado pickup weaves its way between the North End and Sage Creek on the city’s southeast outskirts in 20 minutes flat.

As executive director of the volunteer street patrol, it’s James Favel’s choice to make these runs several times a week — to the Sage Creek Sobeys, to Crampton’s Market at Waverley Street and Bishop Grandin Boulevard, to a cluster of Subways downtown.

Pick up. Drop off. Repeat. They’re all on different schedules multiple times a week.

Early childhood education assistant Justin Kalinouski gives out food items.

Favel gently squeezes a loaf of bread at the Sage Creek grocery store to prove the point. The bread feels fresh.

James Favel loads food from the Sobey's Sage Creek location for delivery to Makoonsag Intergenerational Children's Centre on Selkirk Avenue.

“It’s not expired. It’s day-old. They call it ‘distressed pastries.’ And there’s all manner of breads and baked goods,” he says, telling the story about how Sobeys’ donations started with Christmas candy canes.

The Bear Clan is well known for its foot patrols and searches for the missing and the murdered.

Less known are the personal links the organization has made and partnerships bridged between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Winnipeggers and the city’s leaders. The Bear Clan’s governing board includes former Winnipeg police chief Devon Clunis and Gaylene Nemeth, mother of Cooper, the slain River East teen whose disappearance triggered a massive search in February 2016.

"It's not expired. It's day-old," says Favel of the baked goods.

The food donations go to Ndinawe youth centre, the assisted living Kekinan Centre, the Pritchard House addictions treatment centre, Native Clan organization and the Makoonsag Intergenerational Children’s Centre, part of the Urban Circle Training Centre with the University of Winnipeg.

Loretta Stevenson (from left), Shaina Zabinski and Justin Kalinouski unload food at the Makoonsag Intergenerational Children's Centre.

At Makoonsag (Ojibwa for many little bears) on Selkirk Avenue, Favel barely finishes parking before neighbourhood residents gather by the truck.

“See,” says Loretta Stevenson, “as soon as they see him coming, they come out.”

Stevenson is the cook at Makoonsag. Not counting the few loaves and pastries for the neighbours, the distressed baked goods go to good use at the daycare, with bags given out on delivery day to parents when they pick up their kids.

— Alexandra Paul
Photography by Lyle Stafford