Founder of Winnipeg Harvest remembered

CTV Winnipeg: Founder of Winnipeg Harvest remember Lee Newton lost her battle with brain cancer over the weekend. She helped found the Winnipeg food bank in the 1980s.

The woman who founded Winnipeg Harvest has died.

Lee Newton lost her battle with brain cancer this weekend.

In 1983, Newton was inspired by a television report out of New York to start a food bank in Winnipeg.

Winnipeg Harvest executive director David Northcott said it was her loving and stubborn spirit that helped achieve the food bank in 1985.

“Her legacy is that we're still here,” said Northcott. “We're still caring. We're still deeply involved in supporting families."

Northcott said Newton's legacy is two-fold with Winnipeg Harvest still working toward her dream of one day no longer being needed to feed hungry families. More than 60,000 Manitobans use food banks each month. Nearly 45 per cent of them are children.

Newton was 61.