Calgary food drive brings in nearly 500,000 lbs. of food
Posted Sep 24, 2023 11:40 am.
Last Updated Sep 24, 2023 12:39 pm.
Calgarians managed to donate nearly half a million pounds of food to the Calgary Food Bank on Saturday.
A spokesperson for the food bank says the amount donated during the food drive was especially impressive given the skyrocketing cost of food, leading to higher-than-ever demand at the food bank.
“And that’s just an incredible amount considering the times that we’re in with the high cost of groceries in this inflationary environment,” BettyJo Kaiser told CityNews. “We’re so pleased and so grateful for the generosity of Calgarians.”
Watch: ‘Astonishing’ demand: Calgary Food Bank hosts citywide food drive
More than 400,000 households got white compostable food bank bags hung on their front door for Saturday’s event.
Thousands of volunteers picked up bags of non-perishables left on doorstops from all ends of the city over the weekend. And big and small, the donations added up.
“I was completely blown away seeing that people were donating gigantic boxes of diapers, formula. And there were some people that not only filled the bags that we dropped off, but they would put out a box of extra food,” Kaiser said.
“So it was pretty awesome to see that those who are able to really did step up this year. We’re so lucky to live in this city. Calgary is always step up. If there’s a flood, if there’s a pandemic, during rough times, during good times. We just live in such a generous city.”
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CEO Melissa From says last year, the food bank distributed over 11 million pounds of food.
The largest drive it ever brought in was just under 650,000 pounds.
In addition, the federal government announced it will be contributing nearly $18 million to Canada’s food banks to help with period products.
From says those are products many don’t think to donate, but are always needed.
