The 22nd annual city-wide food drive took place this week in Calgary, culminating with collection day on Saturday. Around 8,000 volunteers, most of whom are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, spent the week leaving donation bags at doors at all corners of the city. Saturday saw community members drop off donations at Tipton Road Chapel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the northwest, as well as volunteers revisiting those same communities from earlier in the week to pick up donations. “We’re expecting today to get somewhere close to about half 1 million pounds of food,” said the Calgary Food Bank’s President and CEO Melissa From. “Every day at the Calgary Food Bank, we are feeding close to a thousand families, so this food is going to go in one door today and out another door tomorrow to feed our city,” From continued. With 1,000 families being fed a day, From estimates 500,000 pounds of food may go quicker than you think. She believes it could last several weeks, or maybe a couple of months. “There was a time when the city-wide food drive was actually enough to get us through almost an entire year at the Calgary Food Bank. But unfortunately, with the increases in need and demand that we’ve seen today, it won’t last quite that long,” From said. While the donations and the effort of the volunteers is certainly appreciated, From adds it unfortunately won’t be enough to keep up with increasing demand. In the three-and-a-half years she’s been with the Food Bank, she says she’s seen it go from distributing 400 emergency hampers a day to 1,000, a 250 per cent increase. “Ideally, we like to be able to get them the food that they need every two weeks so that the fridge stays full and their pantry stays full. And as it stands right now, I think that folks who are using the Calgary Food Bank regularly are facing about a 20-day wait time,” From said. This annual initiative is in partnership with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, with From saying the Church is the “muscle and the mind and the passion” behind all of it. “It’s exciting and it’s important, I really believe in Feed YYC. There’s a great opportunity for our youth and our young people and all of us to be part of giving back to the city of Calgary,” said the Church’s stake food coordinator Mike Bester. Of the 22 years this food drive has been operating, Bester has been around for 21 of them. It’s a legacy he’s happy to be a part of, saying he’s had his children help with the efforts, and then eventually grandchildren too have joined in. “It just started with a small group of people that initiated this out of the west of Calgary, and then it started to grow to all of Calgary. One year, I think we set a world record for the most food collected for a city in one particular time,” Bester said. What keeps him, and the other volunteers, returning every year? Bester says beyond the excitement of seeing the fruits of your labour pay off in such a major way, he knows how much of a need this is for the city. “Professionally, I also work in the school system as well, so I get to also see sometimes families that are struggling. Through our work in the church too, we also get to see people who are struggling,” Bester said. “We are in a bit of a perfect storm as a society right now with inflation. I think anybody who’s filled up their car this week or is buying groceries today will see everything in life costs more,” From added. Ward 4 Calgary City Councillor DJ Kelly also showed up to both donate some food and help volunteers unload donations. He calls food security “one of the most important issues facing Calgarians,” adding the efforts of volunteers every year is greatly appreciated as demand increases. “The fact that this has been going on for so many years really shows us how stretched so many Calgarians are, and why it’s so important for those of us who are able to, to be able to contribute to the City-Wide Food Drive,” Kelly says the City of Calgary is always interested in supporting the food bank’s operations, and that includes possibly expanding and changing the way the food bank operates. “The food bank has a model that is currently rather centralized, and they’re looking to see what they can do about reaching out into more communities in order to be able to get the need for food closer to people, so that if you are somebody who frequents the food bank or requires the food bank, you don’t have to go quite as far to be able to get that service,” Kelly said. “We as the City of Calgary, we have opportunities to be able to partner with them on that, to be able to find appropriate locations and work together,” Kelly added If you missed the opportunity to donate in the food drive but would still like to support the Food Bank, From adds there is also a virtual food drive you can access on its website.
