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Demand continues at Red Deer Food Bank

Fundraising pancake breakfast and barbecue at the August Heat 2018 Mopar Show
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Demand has eased somewhat at Red Deer Food Bank, but that doesn’t mean fewer people need help, says the executive director.

“It’s not less people coming in, but the increases we’ve been dealing with for the last three or four years has slowed down,” Fred Scaife said on Thursday.

At the same time fewer food donations are arriving which means the food bank must spend money to purchase food, he said.

To help fill the shelves the food bank is looking at ways to increase donations to the already successful Mormon Helping Hands Food Drives held each spring and fall.

“We want to see if we can’t squeeze some more out of that and we’re looking at some of our other promotions to be more aggressive marketing them a little bit.”

He said the food bank is working on ways to make more people aware of its fundraising projects.

“That’s really important because this day and age a lot of people just walk by. A lot of people at our special events don’t even know it’s the food bank doing that barbecue. They don’t know that’s a fundraiser for the food bank.”

On Saturday the food bank’s BBQ Crue will cook up a pancake breakfast and barbecue at the August Heat 2018 Mopar Show at École Notre Dame High School, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Operation Food Lift on Sept. 30 is another big, annual fall fundraising event for the food bank. A donation of $25 or the equivalent in food gets people an airplane ride around Red Deer in a small plane operated by Skywings Aviation.

“I believe that everyone wants to give. It’s just a matter of presenting ourselves to them so they know it’s us so they can make the conscious decision.”



szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com

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