Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 25, 2024, Winnipeg, Manitoba WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM ● B3 NEWS I LOCAL / WORLD MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2024 Food from Mennonite Central Committee arrives in Gaza THE first truckload of food aid from the Mennonite Central Committee ar- rived in Gaza last week. The aid, the first of six truckloads planned by the MCC, contained chick- peas, lentils, rice, flour, cooking oil, canned meat, fish and beans for 665 displaced families living in tent camps between Gaza City and Rafah. The food was distributed by Al-Najd Developmental Forum, MCC’s longtime partner in Gaza. “They had a good structure in place for distributing the food,” MCC disas- ter response director Bruce Guenther said, noting Al-Najd has expertise in giving out aid safely and practises good oversight for registering and verifying recipients as being the most in need. Getting the food to Gaza from Jordan, where it was purchased and packed, was “challenging and frustrating,” he said, due to the need to get inspections and approvals from Israeli authorities. Those “time-intensive inspections” by Israeli authorities caused a signifi- cant delay in shipping the food, Guen- ther said, adding they have resulted in a long queue of trucks waiting to cross the border. MCC’s shipment sat in a warehouse for three weeks until it was permitted to enter the long line of trucks waiting to cross into Gaza, he said, noting that once the food arrived, Al-Najd staff only needed a few hours to unload and distribute it. While grateful the first truckload from the organization made it into Gaza, much more aid is needed as the Israel-Hamas war continues to rage, Guenther said. “The situation is dire,” he said, ref- erencing a United Nations report that states the entire population of Gaza — about 2.3 million people — are en- during high levels of acute food insec- urity and that more than one million are suffering from “catastrophic” food insecurity. “The massive gravity of the situation is unbelievable,” Guenther said, noting that before the Hamas Oct. 7 attack in Israel about 500 trucks a day brought food and other items into Gaza. Now, it’s only about 160 or so. “That’s not enough.” What is needed, Guenther said, is for Israeli authorities to speed up approvals and let more aid get into the besieged area. “There’s no need for airdrops or a temporary port. There are good roads.” The situation is the worst he’s seen in his 17 years with MCC, which has its Canadian headquarters in Winnipeg. “I’ve seen many other challenging situations, such as poor roads and rainy seasons, but nothing like this,” Guenther said. Famines, he noted, typically take a year or so to develop. “This one only took a few months and has been caused by human action, or inaction.” To prevent mass starvation, Is- raeli authorities need to let go of their “chokehold on delivery of aid” so food can get to hungry people, Guenther said. “It is a crime to withhold aid to civil- ians, in any context … the international community and the Israeli government must act to prevent famine in Gaza.” The total cost of the MCC’s efforts to provide food for Gaza is $1.6 million. It was made possible by donations of just over $2 million from Canadians and Americans who gave to the or- ganization’s food relief program. Of that, $767,000 came from Canada, with $290,000 of the contributions from Manitobans. Excess funds will be used for subsequent aid truckloads. The project in Gaza is being done in partnership with Canadian Foodgrains Bank, also based in Winnipeg, with sup- port from the Humanitarian Coalition and matching funds from the federal government. The MCC is appealing for more dona- tions. For more information, go to mcc. org. faith@freepress.mb.ca JOHN LONGHURST SUBMITTED MCC staff pack emergency food packages in Amman, Jordan, to be dispatched to Gaza. Winnipeggers flock to BDI on chilly opening day E VEN if the weather was a little colder than normal, Winni- peggers didn’t seem to notice, as sweet treat enthusiasts, many decked out in parkas, lined up for the opening day of Bridge Drive-In’s 67th season Saturday. Seven-year-old David Zinesi was among the afternoon crowd a few hours after the iconic ice cream shop opened at noon. He’s a life-long fan, and it’s his lucky day — he got a second cup of his favourite flavour, chocolate with sprinkles, after the staff accidentally made two. “Yesterday, I was so excited for tomorrow,” he told the Free Press in between licks on one of the benches by the Jubilee Avenue shop parking lot. “Because I was waiting all win- ter to get an ice cream from BDI.” His mom, Leana Zinesi, got a choc- olate cone too. They’ve been coming together every year. They live in the neighbourhood — “an easy walk, an easy wagon ride, an easy dog walk, an easy bike ride and an easy drive,” she explained. “It’s one of those things. I love tradition, and sometimes traditions, you can create them, and some- times they just happen,” she said. “And so the BDI is a tradition that seems to have just happened. Now it’s one of those things that we can share.” BDI has been the centre point of traditions for and a sign of spring to come for Winnipeggers for decades, and its opening comes after about a week of rushing to make toppings, ensuring machinery is in working order and get the landmark Jubilee joint ready, owner Justin Jacob said. “I tend to just look at the fore- cast and look for if there’s going to be some double-digit temperatures within the next five or six days, and then from that period of time, the kind of have to just flip the switch and just get everything completely ready,” he said. Last year, BDI opened March 25. This year, local lactose-intolerant ice cream lovers can expect a return of one of BDI’s most unique offer- ings, a dairy-free soft-serve style dessert made of lupin, a legume imported from Europe, ideally next week, Jacob said. “We’re excited to get the season underway and just get back to serv- ing ice cream,” he said. Among those served Saturday were Miranda Hood, Jen Broesky, and Hood’s eight-year-old son De- clan. While a little more elaborate than the simple chocolate cones the Zinesis picked, they nonetheless went with a classic: the cookie mon- ster cone, topped with half a cookie. “The cookie on it is amazing,” Mir- anda said, while Declan noted that while it’s one of his favourites, he prefers a twist cone. It’s a tradition for them too — as youth, they’d grab ice cream after dance performances — and Hood’s sister, a Winnipegger living in Cal- gary, was the one who reminded them it was opening day, wishing she could come. “We don’t always make it first day, but usually in the summer, we’ll bike here, get an ice cream and bike home,” Broesky said. “Not a year goes by without com- ing to BDI.” For the spring season, BDI will be open 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. on weekday and noon till 9 p.m. on weekends. In the summer, hours will be extended to noon to 10 p.m. daily. malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca MALAK ABAS PHOTOS BY MALAK ABAS / FREE PRESS Jen Broesky (from left), Miranda Hood and Declan Hood enjoy their first BDI treat of the season. Seven-year-old David Zinesi with his mom, Leana Zinesi. Kate and William ‘extremely moved’ by support since cancer revelation LONDON — Kate, the Princess of Wales, and her husband, Prince Wil- liam, are said to be “extremely moved” by the public’s warmth and support fol- lowing her shocking cancer announce- ment as tributes continued to pour in Sunday from around the world. After weeks of frenzied speculation on social media about her health and well-being, Kate said in a candid video message on Friday that she is under- going chemotherapy for cancer fol- lowing major abdominal surgery. The 42-year-old princess said the cancer discovery was a “huge shock” and she was now in the early stages of preventa- tive chemotherapy. “The prince and princess are both enormously touched by the kind messa- ges from people here in the U.K., across the Commonwealth and around the world in response to Her Royal High- ness’ message,” a spokesperson for Kensington Palace said. “They are ex- tremely moved by the public’s warmth and support and are grateful for the understanding of their request for pri- vacy at this time.” There has been a global outpouring of support, including from Canadian, U.S. President Joe Biden, and King Charles who is also undergoing treatment for cancer, which was found after he was undertaking treatment for an enlarged prostate. Neither Kate nor the King have revealed what type of cancer they have or the stage at which it was being treated. Charles’ nephew, Peter Phillips, said the King is “frustrated” that his re- covery is taking longer than “he would want it to,” but that he was in “good spir- its” and “pushing” his staff to be able to return to his duties after beginning his treatment for cancer last month. “I think ultimately he’s hugely frus- trated,” Phillips, the son of Charles’s sister Princess Anne, told Sky News Australia. “He’s frustrated that he can’t get on and do everything that he wants to be able to do. But he is very pragmat- ic, he understands that there’s a period of time that he really needs to focus on himself.” People continued to flock Sunday to the royal’s main London residence, Kensington Palace, as well as to Wind- sor Castle, where they spend most of their time, to show support for the prin- cess, with many leaving flowers. Until Friday, officials had only said Kate’s surgery in January was suc- cessful and recuperation would keep the princess away from public duties until April. This has sparked a flur- ry of rumour-mongering about the “missing” future queen, compounded after Kate acknowledged that she al- tered an official photo released to mark Mother’s Day in the U.K. earlier this month. The photo, meant to reassure the public, triggered a backlash after The Associated Press and other news agen- cies retracted it over manipulation con- cerns. Even a video published last week by The Sun and TMZ that appeared to show Kate and William shopping near their home didn’t dispel the negative coverage. Criticism of those jumping to some- time-outlandish conclusions continued to be voiced over the weekend. — The Associated Press PAN PYLAS ;