Alberta Food Banks seeks fresh, ‘real’ food

Alberta Food Banks wants to take a new and different approach to food donations; it’s now organizing a ‘Real Food Drive’ for clients.

On Thursday, Alberta Food Banks and Amp Your Good launched their first provincial food drive that aims to fill food banks with fresh foods.

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This is a departure from traditional food banks where canned and packaged items often make up the majority of donations. A dozen fresh food items have been selected and can be donated to the campaign, which will support food banks across the province.

Amp Your Good is a U.S.-based company that uses a crowd-feeding system to allow people to donate healthy food with just a few clicks. Donors select from a list of healthy foods and pay online. Amp Your Good buys and delivers the exact selections to the food bank.

“We are committed to purposefully seek out avenues to help food banks meet the demand for more food, while reinforcing the message that food banks need more than canned and highly processed food to build a well-balanced and healthy food hamper,” said Stephanie Rigby, executive director of Alberta Food Banks.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We are committed to purposefully seek out avenues to help food banks meet the demand for more food, while reinforcing the message that food banks need more than canned and highly processed food to build a well-balanced and healthy food hamper," said Stephanie Rigby, executive director of Alberta Food Banks.

The food drive, which is making its Canadian debut in Alberta, runs May 16 to June 13.

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The goal is to raise $250,000, or roughly 100,000 pounds, of food.

To learn more or to donate, visit www.feedalberta.com.

Demand for food banks has risen between 30 and 75 per cent as Alberta deals with an economic downturn.