The city wide Target Hunger campaign took place on Saturday, June 9th, and collectively, residents of Lethbridge and area contributed almost 48,000 pounds of food that will help to restock the shelves at Interfaith Food Bank and Lethbridge Food Bank. Financial contributions were also accepted, and nearly $2400 has been collected from Target Hunger thus far, bringing the final value of community contributions to over $127,000 this year!

While food donations are down slightly from last year (51,000 in 2017), organizers were pleased to see an increase in financial donations accepted online.
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 food banks 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 Maral Kiani Tari, executive director with Lethbridge Food Bank. “We couldn’t pull off a food drive of this size without the support of the community and the hundreds of volunteers that pitched in to help.”

“We felt our goal of 100,000 pounds, equivalent to 1 can per person in Lethbridge was realistic,” says Danielle McIntyre, executive director with Interfaith Food Bank. “Each food bank processes about 70,000 pounds of food each and every month, and during the summer our stocks tend to get quite low. Though we didn’t quite reach the goal, food collected from Target Hunger will go a long way in helping local families, and we’ve made huge strides in engaging our community in addressing local hunger needs.”

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, and community members dedicated to battling hunger in Lethbridge and area.
• Alicia Turner and Megan Lloyd, Serving Communities Intern Program (SCIP) students, who kept the committee on track by overseeing route maps, coordinating volunteers and promoting the event.
• Ivan Djomegni and Yanick Aseh , SCIP students, for the development of the Online Sign-up tool, which saved the food banks thousands of dollars in software development costs.
• All of the major grocers that assisted with promotion and acted as drop off locations: 2 local Safeway stores, both Save on Foods stores, Sobey’s Uplands, Real Canadian Superstore, Real Canadian Wholesale Club, Troy’s No Frills and Simon’s No Frills
• Volunteer Lethbridge, Lethbridge Public Library, Park Place Mall and ATB Centre for helping to promote the event through Hot Spot locations.
• Staples for providing printing services.
• Local media outlets for multiple public service announcements and event promotion.
• Several local groups and agencies who hosted events to collect for Target Hunger, including the Lethbridge Public Library Food for Fines program.
• The Movie Mill for providing advertising in theatres.
• The hundreds of volunteers who assisted with bag delivery and pickup, sorting at collection sites and hosting community events to support Target Hunger. A special mention to almost 100 volunteers from the LDS Young Single Adults group.
• The thousands of community members who contributed food and financial donations to help our neighbors in need.