Chili for Children founder Theresa Stevenson dies at age 93
The founder of a well-known Regina food program has died.
Theresa Stevenson founded Chili For Children in 1985.
"She found out that students in the city core were going to school without eating," read her obituary.
"As a young woman, Mom felt hunger and never forgot the pain."
Chili for Children has fed thousands of children in the city.
"She 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," said Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations vice-chief Dutch Lerat in a news release.
"She leaves behind a legacy that has left our world a better place."
According to her obituary, Stevenson was born on the Cowessess First Nation in 1926. At six years old, she was taken from her home and placed in the Marieval Residential School until the age of 15.
In 1978, she founded Regina Indian Community Awareness and helped families with clothing, housing and other services.
Stevenson was inducted into the Order of Canada in 1994, received the National Aboriginal Award for Community Development in 1999 and also received an honourary doctoral degree from the University of Regina.
She died on Monday in the Centennial Lodge Care Home in Broadview.
An online celebration of life will be livestreamed on Saturday.
