Welcome back, readers!
Hello everyone! The Asper Scoop is back and better than ever with this new edition, brought to you by your latest and ever-so passionate blog writer—Melinda Khov! May is abloom with fresh opportunities, sweet spring days, and inspiring fun-filled moments spent with community. Of course, we can’t mention May and not talk about Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Month and Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month!
This month I’ve had the honour of interviewing the co-chairs of Shinerama, Sukhman Khaira and Madisyn Kurtz, and the founder of Foodtrip Market, Lourdes Federis.
Without further ado, I present to you the May Scoop: Communities in Action!
The Campaign for Cystic Fibrosis
“May is the month of Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Month, and [yet] so many people don’t realize how common it is.” – Sukhman Khaira, 2025-2026 Shinerama Co-Chair.
Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is the most common fatal genetic disease affecting Canadian children and young adults. While its effects on the body vary from person to person, it primarily affects the digestive system and lungs, creating persistent infection and destruction of lungs. In Canada, one in 3,600 children are estimated to be born with cystic fibrosis, and over 4,200 Canadians attend specialized CF clinics.
Cystic fibrosis was identified in 1938 by Dr. Dorothy Andersen and after decades of research, the life expectancy of those affected by cystic fibrosis has risen to about the mid-50’s. While significant medical progress has been made to develop treatments targeting the underlying cause of the disease, such as Trikafta, there is unfortunately no cure.
Organizations all over the world invest in research to aid in the development of such treatments. Cystic Fibrosis Canada is one such organization which raises awareness and funds for the cause. Closer to home is ShineToba, Asper Commerce Students’ Association’s very own Shinerama campaign in support of Cystic Fibrosis Canada—organized by our very own, dedicated students!
Rise and Shine with Shinerama, Canada’s largest post-secondary fundraiser for Cystic Fibrosis.
Over 20,000 students from 36 universities and colleges around Canada organize the fundraiser Shinerama, and altogether over $29 million has been raised for Cystic Fibrosis Canada. It started off humbly as a shoe-shining fundraiser in 1964 but has grown to include many more fun events.
The Asper Commerce Students’ Association has their own Shinerama team (@shinetoba on Instagram), who takes it in their hands to raise awareness and funds so that the lives of those with Cystic Fibrosis can be made as comfortable as possible.
Meet Sukhman Khaira and Madisyn Kurtz: the Shinerama co-chairs for the 2025-2026 year.
Having accepted the position of Shinerama co-chair in mid-march, Sukhman Khaira is now entering her second year of Asper, aiming to declare her major for actuarial mathematics. It’s no surprise she wanted to be part of Shinerama. Sukhman was in the Asper First Year Committee last year as one of the charity co-chairs and knew she wanted to continue contributing to the community—and Shinerama was exactly that for her.
To Sukhman, volunteering is a way to give back to the community; to utilize the knowledge and time we have to help others, especially during times when people spend so much time focusing their energies on themselves. Essentially, to do what we can to help others.
Madisyn Kurtz shares a similar belief. Madisyn is entering her third year of Asper, majoring in actuarial mathematics. She accepted the Shinerama co-chair role, believing it’s important to contribute to the community meaningfully and make a difference in people’s lives when it can be tough to find the time for things these days. Having been the Public Relations Coordinator for 5Days last year, University of Manitoba’s fundraiser for the homeless, she knows all about making a difference in the community.
To Madisyn, volunteerism is a way of community, in which all types of people come together to help create those differences to achieve the greater goal of making an impact.
“Working on a committee, it’s really inspiring to see the effort people put towards [achieving] a larger goal.” – Madisyn Kurtz, 2025-2026 Shinerama Co-Chair.
The primary vision this year is all about education: to raise awareness of cystic fibrosis because of how prevalent and impactful it is. By sharing resources and creating unforgettable experiences for the Asper student body, community members, participants, volunteers, and affected people, Shinerama aims to let Canadians know there are many ways to help the cystic fibrosis campaign.
Regardless of if you’ve been to Shinerama events or if you haven’t, this upcoming summer will be filled with fun events and volunteering opportunities for all students to enjoy—students just like you, of course!
In fact, coming up on May 25 from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM is the 21st Walk to Make Cystic Fibrosis History, Cystic Fibrosis Canada’s largest annual fundraising event. This outdoor walk is an opportunity to contribute to cystic fibrosis history, research, care, and advocacy, all the while making connections with the community. Everyone is welcome to attend.
Shinerama is currently looking for volunteers to help run the event, so if you wish to take action to support a wonderful cause, head over to @shinetoba for more details! Registration closes on May 23rd.
There will be more events in the near summer and fall, so keep an eye out for those on the @shinetoba Instagram!
Celebrate Asian Community and Diversity with Foodtrip Market!
It began in 2006 when Lourdes Ferderis moved to Winnipeg from the Philippines. With full-time experience back home as a graphic designer, she was able to get a job as an in-house graphic designer in Winnipeg and worked at it until 2016 when she was laid off. Fortunately, Lourdes had been doing freelance work on the side, but eventually the time came when she felt the need to widen the scope of her skills, to do more than graphic design—and that came to her in the form of multicultural marketing.
Lourdes recognized a lack of a platform for Asian communities at the time, and she saw the opportunity and need to provide that platform in Winnipeg. What made it more important to her was her identity as an immigrant and a mom—she wanted to directly contribute to the celebration of community and transfer of culture and knowledge to the future generations in Winnipeg.
One thing led to another, and Lourdes took on her first event planning role in August 2016, where she helped host a food market for Folklorama, and the process was more complicated than just having food trucks. Time and time again, Lourdes was discouraged by others about the difficulty of accomplishing something like this in Canada, but Lourdes persevered. She has always liked challenges.
Apart from that, Lourdes was also frustrated by the lack of low-risk business opportunities and the difficulty of food creators to sell food products professionally and safely. This sentiment is increased tenfold for immigrants like her, who are less likely to have the money or English skills to pursue higher-risk business opportunities on their own.
These experiences and feelings propelled her to create her own food market events, and thus Foodtrip Market was born in 2017, in partnership with the Asian Heritage Society.
Foodtrip Market is a pop-up market that supports small, local businesses through food and other programming. Pop-up markets are especially helpful for new food vendors as it’s a great way to test the waters without having to invest an extreme amount of time and money into a business. Since its founding, the non-profit organization has held many pop-ups in locations ranging from Outlet Mall Collection to Ikea to The Forks.
You may recognize some of their markets, such as the Chinatown Night Market or the upcoming Taste of Asia happening next weekend from May 24 to May 25, at Memorial Park (Memorial Boulevard), from 12:00 PM to 9:00 PM. This will mark its third year running.
Taste of Asia is a beloved celebration of heritage, filled with educational cultural booths, street food from all over Asia, cultural performances on stage, and entertainment for people of all ages to enjoy, including various cultural activities. Alongside this is a celebration of Indigenous culture, with Indigenous performances and local small businesses also popping up!
It is completely free to attend and will feature over 100 food stalls, trucks, vendors, and artisans that you can support.
This year, there will also be a new passport program, where you can obtain a stamp card, the “passport”, from the Taste of Asia information booth to get the chance to collect stamps from various cultural booths and win a free prize bag. Note that to get a stamp, you must not only stop by but really get to learn about what each booth has to offer!
Ensuring events like Taste of Asia run smoothly requires a lot of work. For Lourdes, she believes qualities like openness, patience, and flexibility are important. Being prepared to do lots of research, work hard, and most importantly build relations with suppliers, vendors, and people, is also key. These efforts go towards keeping a good image for the Foodtrip Market brand so all their events can be enjoyed. Lourdes also acts as a liaison between food vendors and food inspectors to bridge the language gap and give vendors the best support they need to succeed in the pop-up market scene.
“Food is universal,” Lourdes says, and this fact certainly holds true, as food is the central theme of every Foodtrip Market event. Especially for the diverse city of Winnipeg, it is important to celebrate culture through food, and it doesn’t hurt that food makes a great conversation starter.
If you’re passionate and want to get involved with Taste of Asia, get in touch with Foodtrip Market because volunteer applications are open this week!
Find Foodtrip Market on Facebook @foodtripwpg or Instagram @foodtripmarket for more details!
Conclusion
Stories like these are what truly makes me take a step back and reflect on my own community and experiences, the family and friends who I will always be grateful for!
Take advantage of the warm weather to go on a few strolls and enjoy the nature around you. Don’t forget to stay hydrated, be kind to yourself, and make today a great one. And of course, check out the upcoming Walk to Make CF History and Taste of Asia next weekend! They only happen once a year.
Thanks for checking in, readers, and good luck with studies, work, and all other things!
Pookie Out!