Food Insecurity in Calgary

Many seniors face challenges in accessing nutritious meals due to financial constraints, mobility issues, or other limitations. As a result, they may go hungry or struggle to maintain their health. Our senior food bank program aims to bridge this gap by providing essential meals to seniors in need.

Imagine a community where vulnerable seniors, disabled individuals, and low-income families struggle every day to put food on the table. These individuals face the harsh reality of food insecurity, unable to afford nutritious meals or regularly access to food. In fact, this is a heartbreaking reality that affects real people in our community, leaving them feeling forgotten and overlooked.

Meanwhile, chain grocery suppliers (such as Costco, Safeway, NoFrills) are forced to dispose of surplus goods and produce that are edible but deemed unsellable or unsold before their best-before date. These policies cumulatively lead to the societal issue of food waste, with grocery stores contributing to an estimated 1.31 million tonnes of food refuse that does not ever reach a customer.

The ICUC food bank program bridges this senseless gap by organizing and facilitating the distributing of free produce donations from grocery stores to those who are in need. Issues for individual members such as logistical coordination, individual communication or mobility issues, goods transportation, and differing produce preferences can be solved through community action and organization.

Food bank program volunteers take on multiple roles such as coordinating with grocer collaborators, communicating with our clients, and enrolling participants, including 18 volunteer drivers who are responsible for loading, transporting and unloading the donations and 22 volunteers who help with the sorting and distribution of the donations. Through volunteer dedication and generosity, this program currently runs 5-6 days a week, distributing all food donations received from donors to families in need on the same day. In the past year, the program has benefited almost 300 families in approximately 15,000 usages of the program.

Our ICUC Food Bank Program

At the IcareUcare association, we are dedicated to addressing these pressing issues of food insecurity and food waste through our Food Bank program. Our goal is clear: to provide immediate relief and long-term support to those in need of food. We measure our success in the amount of people we can service and their gratitude and satisfaction they communicate. But we know we can always do more: by enrolling more clients and volunteers, by expanding our reach to more suppliers, increasing our volume of goods we distribute, and addressing any other member concerns.  Through our campaign, we aim to raise funds to support our mission and make a even more meaningful impact on the lives of those we serve.

But we need your help!

With rising food costs, increasing demand for our program, and rising gas prices, our resources are stretching thin. We're reaching out to the incredible Alberta community to raise funds through the Alberta Government's Crowdfunding Program for transportation expenses and storage solutions.

What started as a simple solution to food insecurity has raised its own challenges as our program grew. The sheer volume of goods that require transportation has meant multiple trips for our drivers, increasing time burdens, and raising storage issues. Food items donated from distant grocery suppliers from Calgary outskirts or Airdrie needs be transported to distribution points accessible to our members. Additionally, this year’s rise in gas prices has meant the burden to drivers has almost doubled, without receiving any compensation for their expenses.

The sustainability of our program has depended on the goodwill of our volunteers to shoulder increasingly financial costs as well as time. To ease these burdens, we’re asking for community support from the Calgary community, association members, or even beneficiaries to share this burden by reimbursing their gas costs of transportation.

Generous donors can also help with an additional challenge of expanding our services: the preservation of goods during transport. To transport goods safely and securely during long drives, an investment of loading containers would address loading challenges and greatly lower risk of damage to donated items. As we enter the summer months, temperature preservation has also been a safety issue since certain temperatures for food items can only be preserved with specialized containers. An investment in storage would mean a permanent increase in our capacity to serve our clients.

Every gift, no matter the size, makes a meaningful difference in the lives of those we serve.