A volunteer group of four mothers in Regina, Saskatchewan, is providing weekly meals to help residents who do not have enough to eat. The Matriarch’s Collective prepares and serves food every Saturday to between 100 and 200 people to fill a critical gap in weekend services. The team is led by co-founders Kelsey Aitcheson, Sarah Mercer, Josée O’Blenis, and Laura Whiteman.
The organization was created in 2023 after a tent camp at City Hall was removed, which left many vulnerable residents without a reliable way to find a hot meal on the weekends. The volunteers noticed a specific lack of services on Saturdays and Sundays and now host their meal service starting at 4:00 PM. Because the local need is so high, the food is often completely finished within 15 minutes of the volunteers arriving.
Food insecurity remains a major concern in the province, with 30.6 per cent of people in Saskatchewan facing hunger in 2024. According to the Regina Food Bank, about 35.3 per cent of children in the province live in households that struggle to afford regular meals. Official data shows that Indigenous families are hit particularly hard, experiencing food insecurity at more than double the rate of non-Indigenous families.
The collective follows a community support model where they do not collect money or track personal data from the people they serve. They rely entirely on food donations and gift cards from the community and choose to provide meals with dignity without requiring any form of identification or paperwork. This approach respects the privacy of residents, including many Indigenous community members who rely on the service.
For their ongoing work, the group has been nominated for the 2026 YWCA Regina Women of Distinction Awards in the Community Champion category. Their cooking sessions rotate between local spaces including the Regina Food Bank, the Al Ritchie Community Association, and the Heritage United Church. At times, as many as 20 volunteers join the mothers to help prepare the weekly meals.
