21st annual Calgary Food Bank drive bringing in food for holidays
Posted Sep 20, 2025 10:15 am.
Last Updated Sep 20, 2025 10:16 am.
If you’re wondering what to do with that white cloth bag on your doorstep, it’s for the 21st annual Calgary Food Bank’s city-wide food drive on Saturday.
Hundreds of volunteers will be out on Saturday morning from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. to pick up non-perishable food donations after they went around the city to drop off the white bags.
“Volunteers will be out in their cars and their trucks and their vehicles picking up those bags and bringing them to our main distribution centres in the city to get that food into our main warehouse,” Calgary Food Bank CEO Melissa From told 660 NewsRadio.
“It is certainly our largest food drive event of the year, and it is incredible how many thousands of pounds of food this food drive brings in for us every year.”
The Calgary Food Bank brought in 200,000 pounds of food in 2024, and From is hoping this year will bring even more to last until the holidays.
A report from the bank earlier in the year revealed that many employed Calgarians are using the food bank. From says close to 30 per cent of the food bank’s clients are working parents and children.
The food bank currently provides emergency hampers to around 800 households every day, which comes as Canada Food Banks reported over two million visits to food banks in one month in 2024–double the number from 2019.
“They come to us every two weeks or so and get about seven days’ worth of food. And … we are doing everything we can to keep pace with these increases in demand,” she said.
“The incredible city showing up and putting those groceries on the doorstep, and making those donations and things that Calgarians do all year round to make sure that we can serve the community and the way that we do.”
There’s also a new virtual food drive feature to help make it easier to help out the community. You can head to the Calgary Food Bank website for more information.
The food drive comes as a new report from Food Banks Canada says food insecurity continues to climb, but new government programs could ease financial strain.
The organization’s 2025 “Poverty Report Card” gave Canada a failing grade in food insecurity and unemployment, while giving a “C” for legislative progress. The overall mark is a “D.”
