The Calgary Food Bank held a special donation drive on Saturday and they had the help of Calgary Transit to do it.
20 transit buses were parked throughout the city for the agency’s 25th Annual Stuff-A-Bus event and Calgarians were invited to come and load the vehicles top to bottom with non-perishable food items and cash donations.
In 2017, the event brought in over 51,000 pounds of food, but organizers hope that 2018 would top that.
“We’re really hoping to stuff all 20 buses that are parked at Co-op stores across the city. It’s really important that we gather about half a million pounds of food and funds so that we can make it through the Christmas season,” said Shawna Ogston with the Calgary Food Bank.
She adds that they will also start working to fill Christmas hampers in the next little while too, so every little bit helps.
“We have never seen a dip in client need over the last 35 years especially with the recent downturn in the economy. We are still handing out between 5,000 and 6,000 hampers per month.”
Officials with the Food Bank say that more than 14,000 people in Calgary rely on their services every month.
