The Edmonton Police Service is contributing more boots on the ground for the Edmonton Food Bank – by handing out food hampers to those in need.
The initiative started a couple years ago but recently gained more traction and awareness after an officer visited the food bank with his children as part of a school trip.
Sgt. Michael Elliott said he was taken aback by the facility and how many people the food bank feeds on a monthly basis, which is roughly 23,000 Edmontonians.
“I said, ‘Maybe I can get some food hampers from you’ and I said on my day-to-day activities or with other officers, if we come across someone in need, we can hand out some of these food hampers.”
Elliott said he has been a police officer for approximately 12 years and sees the need in the community.
“I can say at least once a week I would across somebody who, in my opinion, it would be helpful if I could hand them out a food hamper,” he said.
“I’ve come across a couple people on Whyte Avenue and they’ve been taken back. One person in particular, when I provided a food hamper, he said, ‘Edmonton police are giving me a food hamper? What?’”
Edmonton Food Bank spokesperson Tamisan Bencz-Knight said the food hampers are meant to be 48-hour emergency kits to hold people over until they can find more assistance.
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“We all have to work together. Sometimes you have to be creative in how you roll out plans. It’s not a perfect plan but it is an option for us to rely on.”
Bencz-Knight said the food hampers contain non-perishables such as canned vegetables, juice boxes and pasta. The hampers also contain a list of community resources for individuals and families to contact.
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She said roughly 30 food hampers have been created and handed out in the last three weeks.
“We are a resource in the community. We don’t operate as a silo. We partner with groups and EPS is one of our valuable partners,” she said.
Elliott said policing can often be a thankless job and many people only see officers in unfortunate situations.
“Usually if we show up at your door, we’re there to deliver bad news or we have to arrest someone or give someone a ticket, which is not always a positive interaction. If I can give back to the public and help somebody by giving them a food hamper, I think that can help that person out.”
Elliott said the officers in the Whyte Avenue area primarily hand the food hampers out to the homeless population but he said other officers in other parts of the city have distributed them to families after seeing how little food they have in their house.
“If I can just be one little cog in the wheel to help turn it around and get them back up, that’ll be the difference.”
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