A group of moms who held a fundraiser to create a breast milk depot now have a location to store donated milk so it can be shipped to Calgary.

The Grey Nuns Community Hospital in southeast Edmonton have come forward as a location to store the freezer the Breastfeeding Action Committee of Edmonton (BACE) recently held a fundraiser for.

The group hasn’t finished their final tally, but believe they raised close to their goal of $5,000. The BACE wants to find a way to donate breast milk for Alberta babies in need without the high cost of shipping the milk in individual coolers to the milk bank in Calgary, Metro recently reported.

“It’s just terrific that there has been so much support,” BACE spokesperson Jodine Chase, adding that she was surprised to secure a location for the depot so quickly.

“When (working with) government, sometimes these things take a long time to get together. I was really thrilled that they stepped up so quickly.”

The Grey Nuns will mostly be providing a storage area for the freezer. Volunteers will be on hand to collect the breast milk donations and store it, so it can be mass shipped to the Calgary milk depot for processing for newborns.

“It’s mostly the storage. I have part of a utility room set up that I can dedicate to this. And it’s just, the timing is right and we have a space, so why not?, said Gail Cameron, director for maternal child health for Covenant Health, adding that BACE has a partnership with Red Arrow to transport the milk from Edmonton to Calgary.

“And to me, it’s just a first step. Obviously, Edmonton would love to follow in Calgary’s… roots and get a donor human bank. But that’s a lot more detail than we can do at this time for sure.”

Cameron hopes the donation centre, which would probably be run by volunteers two afternoons a week, will be open by August.

- with files from Heather McIntyre