COMMUNITY
Banking on Support
Food banks across Alberta are creating innovative programs to meet the growing need.
By Meaghan Archer
The Calgary Food Bank is working to make food accessible to everyone in the city. | PHOTO: COURTESY OF CALGARY FOOD BANK
FOOD SECURITY HAS BECOME a growing concern in Alberta, as grocery store prices and cost-of-living expenses have all risen since the COVID-19 pandemic. Every month, nearly 173,000 Albertans — a third of whom are children — seek support from regional food banks. Over the past five years, Alberta food banks experienced a 92.4 percent increase in demand, according to a Food Banks Canada report. In response, food banks and charitable organizations across the province have taken a client-centric approach, introducing new services that go beyond basic needs and emphasize choice. It’s created opportunity for clients to feel agency in their food security. Innovative programming enables the creation of food hampers that reflect not only variety but individualized preferences. Food bank hampers are moving away from an antiquated idea of pantry basics and non-perishables to fresh produce and inclusive dietary options.
Volunteers make it possible for the food banks to support people experiencing food insecurity. | PHOTO: COURTESY OF FOOD BANKS ALBERTA
Robert McDonald, community engagement director for the Calgary Food Bank, says that one of the specific requests he’s heard from the community is to increase the dietary options available in food hampers. Food requirements can be shaped by culture, faith, health needs or family preferences; being able to offer appropriate options for clients is a matter of dignity and respect, says McDonald.
The mission of the Calgary Food Bank is to make food accessible to everyone in the city. Providing clientele with a variety of food options is a big part of that accessibility. The food bank wants to supply items that recipients will enjoy and be able to best utilize. This commitment to offering clients diversity in their food options made adding a “click and collect” program a top priority, explains McDonald.
The model operates in a way similar to the experience of online grocery shopping. When a client arrives, they’re provided with a tablet, allowing them to customize their food hamper by making selections from available products. “Letting clients pick through all those items is really great,” says McDonald, “because it gets people what they need, while also reducing waste and complexity for us.”
People appreciate that they’re being given more choice, he says, adding that clients also give essential feedback that helps strengthen the program. For example, shortly after its launch in fall 2024, clients highlighted that easily packable items for school lunches were missing from the hampers. Once the issue was identified, McDonald and his team were able to fix it.
Messaging around donations has also pivoted because of the click and collect program. Canned and non-perishable items that were previously top of the donation-request list have been replaced with items like rice and pasta. Donations from local businesses, such as grocery stores and farms, are also incredibly important to fill the food bank’s produce quota, McDonald says.
“Food banks can be a lifeline: not just for a meal today, but for helping people get back on their feet tomorrow.”
The Red Deer Food Bank Society has taken fresh food production into its own hands. Just one year after the program started, it now operates an indoor grow farm, three grow tents, a greenhouse and two shipping containers that have been turned into dedicated gardens. This is in addition to farming an acre of local land and participating in 10 community garden plots. This yield has allowed the food bank to add a significant amount of fresh food to its inventory, directly supporting its clientele. As an example of the yield, executive director Mitch Thompson says the food bank harvests 400 heads of lettuce a week and will get one million cherry tomatoes in the 2025 season. Many of the farming efforts are all-season, which allows them to harvest and offer fresh produce year-round, even during Alberta’s long and cold winters.
“Our goal, initially, was to add one to two fresh products to each hamper,” Thompson explains. “We serve about 1,200 households each month, and right now we’re able to do that with abundance.” Thompson says the food bank has adopted an entrepreneurial model where half the produce grown goes to hampers and the other half is sold at markets. The Meals on Wheels program, which operates through the food bank, had previously scrapped the salad option as a cost-saving measure, but it’s now able to offer fresh options for clients, he says. All the profits from its entrepreneurial endeavours go back into the organization to support more innovation. As vital as they are, food banks are largely funded by donations. McDonald and Thompson both expressed that these initiatives wouldn’t be possible without the support of their generous communities. Recognizing this need, AMA created a partnership with food banks across Alberta, committing to being one of the organizations leading the way in reducing food insecurity. Since its launch in 2009, AMA’s Fill Our Fleet campaign has raised $1.6M and collected hundreds of thousands of pounds of food, all of which goes directly to food banks in the province. In 2024 alone, more than $322,500 was raised through the program.
AMA’s Harvesting Hope program collects fresh vegetables for Alberta food banks. | PHOTO: COURTESY OF AMA
“Since its launch in 2009, AMA’s Fill Our Fleet campaign has raised $1.6M and collected hundreds of thousands of pounds of food.”
Those numbers are all thanks to the incredible generosity of AMA members and staff. Members are encouraged to bring cash donations or non-perishable food donations to free community events, can round up the total on their transactions at AMA centres and contribute homegrown root vegetables through AMA’s Harvesting Hope campaign. AMA also contributes its own micro garden harvest directly to the food bank, and some schools involved in the AMA School Garden Studio have also opted to donate some of their fresh produce. With the launch of AMA’s Community Foundation in 2023, these efforts have been amplified, including AMA matching member donations up to $100,000 in 2024 and 2025. Karina Dixon, the executive director of the AMA Community Foundation, says she’s learned so much when visiting local food banks; gaining an understanding of how they support their communities beyond ensuring pantries are full. Providing services such as tax filing, building résumés and applying for government assistance are not what you typically associate with food banks, but can all play a role in developing financial stability. “It’s been very inspiring visiting food banks across the province. Seeing firsthand how donations through the AMA Community Foundation make a real difference makes us want to keep doing even more,” Dixon says.
“Food banks can be a lifeline: not just for a meal today, but for helping people get back on their feet tomorrow. Every donation helps support programs that strengthen the community” she adds.
“We can only do so much as an organization, and without the trust and commitment of our members and fellow Albertans, we would not be able to give back as much as we do.” AMA
AMA’s School Garden Studio brings the lessons of growing food into the classroom and encourages community gardening. | PHOTO: COURTESY OF AMA