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T8N100Men tops up food bank challenge

T8N100Men usually makes a $10k donation to a different local charity or community organization four times a year. But unusual times call for unusual measures. That's why they've put out a challenge to the whole community to help support the St. Albert Food Bank, support that could match up to $30,000 for a total boost of $60,000.
St. Albert Food Bank
The St. Albert food bank. DAN RIEDLHUBER/St. Albert Gazette

The challenge is on: T8N100Men wants to double up your monetary donation to the St. Albert Food Bank.

It was only last month that the group held its quarterly meeting to make a $10,000 donation on the spot to the St. Albert Family Resource Centre. But that was March, which seems like so long ago now.

All of a sudden, “this COVID thing happened,” noted representative John Liston, who said the members immediately began to chatter about a possible course of action. Sitting around and doing nothing wasn’t on the list.

“We had to do something. These are unprecedented times. We should probably do something unprecedented.”

The charitable social club has a membership of 120 – though more are always welcome, Liston hinted. In its short life, it has already put approximately $200,000 into the coffers of local community organizations through a quarterly process of receiving presentations from three different groups and voting on one to be the recipient.

Now, it only has one charity in its sights.

Through their connections at the food bank, group members had heard about and even seen how the demand for hampers had skyrocketed since the public health crisis hit. In an ad on page 13 in today’s paper, they explain that the food bank typically offers 280 hampers to its clients during a monthly period but that number mushroomed up to 420 in March. According to the food bank, it’s only going to get worse as projections suggest that the surge will continue for the rest of the year and likely longer.

The demand is so great that the food bank even dipped into its bank account and purchased $5,000 in groceries to help fill up its shelves as a stopgap measure.

T8N100Men challenge is to match public donations up to $30,000. Reaching that goal would mean a total boost to the food bank of $60,000.

“We are challenging the community to come out and help if they can. Many of them are struggling with jobs and with life themselves, but only if they can find some way to help,” Liston continued, noting that the problem is a double-edged sword: demand is going way up while the supply (resulting from donations to the food bank) is going way down since more and more people can’t afford to offer the support.

“We now want to go to the community and say, ‘for every dollar you contribute, we'll match yours up to $30,000’, which is pretty wild. It's beyond what any of us thought would happen but it turns out that we have some incredibly generous people.”

People can make their donations by sending a cheque made out to ‘St. Albert Community Village and Food Bank Society’and note ‘T8N100Men’ on the Memo line. Cheques can be mailed to ‘St. Albert Food Bank, 30-50 Bellerose Drive, St. Albert, AB T8N 3L5’.

Donations can also be made by credit card. Go to the food bank’s website: stalbertfoodbankandcommunityvillage.com and click on the ‘Donate now’ button for the CanadaHelps link.  Make sure to include ‘T8N100Men’ in the notes. Charitable tax receipts will be issued for donations of $20 or more.The deadline for people to make their donations for this challenge is April 30.

Liston ended by emphasizing the importance of action in tough times.

“It's a funny thing because a lot of people seem to think food banks are well funded. I don't know why. If you really know what goes on in there, it's incredible. They just do incredible work, and it doesn't matter how much money we get them. Whatever we can give them, they can do great things with it. There's just so much more they could do if we can get the resources for them.”

Suzan Krecsy, the executive director at the food bank, said she is very appreciative with the "absolutely phenomenal support" from the community and the "great group of guys" at T8N100Men.

"This type of pandemic can bring out the worst and the best in people. Honestly, it's bringing out the best in everybody that we've seen."

She added that starting Wednesday, the food bank is going to start making home deliveries of hampers as a way of maintaining good public health. Social workers at the Community Village will still see clients if need be.


Scott Hayes, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

About the Author: Scott Hayes, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Ecology and Environment Reporter at the Fitzhugh Newspaper since July 2022 under Local Journalism Initiative funding provided by News Media Canada.
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