Theresa Stevenson, the co-founder of a long-running inner-city hot lunch program for school-aged kids, died on Monday.
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Her son Greg confirmed the news in a Facebook post, saying his mother was 93 years old at the time of her death.
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In 1986 Stevenson and her husband Robert helped launch a thrice-weekly hot lunch program out of the Albert-Scott Community Centre in Regina's North Central. The goal was to give school-aged kids in the area a high-protein lunch and dessert on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
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The program eventually came to be known as Chili for Children.
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鈥淔rom my own experience, I knew people were out there starving,鈥 she told the Leader-Post in 1988. 鈥淏ut I also read a study done by a University of Regina professor, and it was enough to make you cry. Our children deserve better. They need a good nourishing meal because, if they鈥檙e hungry, they can鈥檛 study well. They can鈥檛 learn.鈥
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Stevenson worked with Regina Native Community Awareness Inc. in the 1980s, devoting the rest of her life to helping North Central鈥檚 Indigenous youth.
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She attributed part of her drive and motivation to her late grandfather, a former Chief at Cowessess First Nation, Joseph Lerat.
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鈥淗e was a strong, good person and I admired him and wanted to be like him ... he was able to improve the lives of band members. He had a heart for others besides himself,鈥 Stevenson said in the late 1980s.
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The Chili for Children program still runs today, operating out of the m芒maw锚yatit芒n centre. It serves approximately 800 hot lunches everyday to school-aged kids in the city.
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As Stevenson continued her work in Regina through the 1990s and 2000s, she gained recognition from various bodies across the province.
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Those included: being named the 1998 Citizen of the Year by the FSIN (then called the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations); 1999 National Aboriginal Achievement Award in community development; Saskatchewan Order of Merit and a Member of the Order of Canada. In 2008, the City of Regina named a Lakeridge-area park in the city鈥檚 northwest in her honour.
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鈥淚 was just always in my own little world there feeding the children and making sure they had something that I didn鈥檛 realize that people noticed what I was doing,鈥 she said at the park鈥檚 unveiling.
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Stevenson served as a FSIN senator from 2001 to 2003.
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In an emailed statement, the FSIN (now called the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations) offered its condolences to Stevenson鈥檚 family and friends.
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鈥淪he will be missed by the many people who loved her dearly and by the thousands of lives she touched with her charity work and selflessness," FSIN Vice-Chief Dutch Lerat said. "She leaves behind a legacy that has left our world a better place.鈥
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The FSIN noted Stevenson undertook her work by 鈥渁sserting that First Nations women played a lead role in a then male-dominated time in the 1980s.鈥
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Stevenson's sons Greg and Wes could not be reached for comment.
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