The city wide Target Hunger campaign took place on Saturday, June 13th, and collectively, residents of Lethbridge and area contributed over 59,000 pounds of food that will help to restock the shelves at Interfaith Food Bank and Lethbridge Food Bank. The food drive took place in Coaldale as well this year, and generated 6830 pounds of food for the Coaldale Food Bank.

Donations are still trickling in from individuals who missed getting their bags out in time for pickup, or chose to skip the doorstep pickup in favor of dropping off their donations at the Foodbanks or local grocers this week.

“We’re thankful for everyone who participated by putting a bag out on their doorstep, and are equally grateful to the community volunteers for organizing the event and recruiting the people and resources necessary to complete all of the work on our behalf,” says Debbie Woelders, executive director with Lethbridge Food Bank.

In addition to collecting and delivering these donations to the food banks, volunteers sorted and packed food donations according to commodity, which is of huge benefit to the receiving food banks. “Normally, we spend a lot of time sorting and organizing food after receiving large contributions,” says Danielle McIntyre, executive director with Interfaith Food Bank. “Though we didn’t quite hit our goal of 100,000 pounds, we managed to increase our haul by almost 25% from last year – we are excited to see Target Hunger proceeds growing every year as we get more and more of the community involved.”

Vaughn Caldwell of Coaldale Food Bank credits the entire community of Coaldale for the success of this year’s community food drive, which experienced an increase from their last community drive, largely expected to be due to much better weather this year. “We are grateful to everyone who gave from their hearts, filling our bright yellow bags with a generous offering – thank you to the community as a whole.”

In addition to food contributions, community members also gave of themselves, offering their time to assist on event day, or to encourage participation from the community. A very special thank you should be extended to:

• Target Hunger Planning Committee comprised of representatives from both food banks, local Neighborhood Associations, Churches, Social Work Students Association, Lethbridge Evangelical Ministries Association and Lethbridge City Council, as well as individuals dedicated to battling hunger in our community.
• Dustin and Laurelle Hamm, Serving Communities Intern Program (SCIP) students, who kept the committee on track by developing route maps, coordinating volunteers and promoting the event.
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, for their help in using the Ward system to assign bag delivery routes. Church members were assigned areas within their wards and recruited help from friends and neighbors from all walks of life to ensure all areas of the city were covered. Over 100 youth attending the LDS Youth Conference also helped at sorting sites.
• All of the major grocers that assisted with promotion and acted as drop off locations: 2 local Safeway stores, both Save on Foods stores, Real Canadian Superstore, Real Canadian Wholesale Club, and Troy’s No Frills
• Several local groups and agencies who hosted events to collect for Target Hunger such as the Lethbridge Public Library Food for Fines program, Westminster Outdoor Pool, Alberta Human Services and Pita Pit.
• The hundreds of volunteers who assisted with bag delivery and pickup, sorting at collection sites and hosting community events to support Target Hunger.
• The thousands of community members who contributed food and financial donations to help our neighbors in need.