A day of giving and generosity was shared across Saskatchewan on Tuesday in an attempt to counteract any consumerism sparked by Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales.
Giving Tuesday is a global movement that occurs annually on the Tuesday following the two days of shopping sales. Non-profits often launch special campaigns and raise money for charities and organizations.
Saskatoon’s Food Bank and Learning Centre launched its 2023 holiday campaign to raise food and funds for Saskatoon’s most vulnerable.
“It really is just us inviting folks to support our work and light it up for the city,” said Laurie O’Connor with Saskatoon’s food bank.
“There is a lot of bad news these days. There are a lot of things that we are thinking about and a lot of things that we would like to see change, but during the holiday season, folks can support the work that we do.”
Sylvain Charlebois, agri-food and analytics expert, said that consumers have been forced to spend less at the grocery store as costs of housing and shelter skyrocket.
“You are likely paying more to make sure you keep a roof over your head and that’s not going to dissipate.”
He said Canada’s food insecurity rate will not drop until shelter costs begin to decline.
Nutrien kicked off Saskatoon’s campaign on Tuesday with a $50,000 donation. It also donated $250,000 total to the Food Banks of Saskatchewan Feeding Holiday Cheer campaign, which has a goal of $2 million this holiday season and into 2024.
“We have seen 18 months of relentless inflation so if we are starting from today, more folks might be doing OK but people are facing the pressures of debt and rising cost and almost everything,” O’Connor said.
She said over 40 per cent of requests made at Saskatoon’s food bank are on behalf of children.
“We haven’t been able to make a dent in child poverty in this province so we are glad that we are able to be there to help families and support families, but we should all be thinking about that statistic.”
According to O’Connor, the food bank’s most wanted items include baby food and formula, canned fruits and vegetables, soups and stews, pasta and cereals, canned protein and peanut butter.
Bins will be available to collect food donations at Saskatoon grocery stores and donations can be made at saskatoonfoodbank.org/donate.
“We have these lovely trees and every time somebody donates, they can put a light bulb on the tree,” O’Connor said.
Salvation Army also kicked off its Christmas Kettle campaign Tuesday morning in the city.
Last year, the Salvation Army supported approximately 3,600 families through the campaign.
“That breaks out to about just over 10,000 children and 6,000 adults that were assisted here in the city of Saskatoon,” said Derek Kerr with the Salvation Army.
The donations collected at the kettle support the Salvation Army’s annual programs and services like school breakfast programs, city backpack programs and nutrition programs.
“Everything that is collected here in the city of Saskatoon stays local,” Kerr said. “It supports all of our programs and services that support residents across the city.”
Twelve kettles will be located across the city in all major malls, Wal-Marts, and Co-ops. Costco pop-ups will begin accepting donations in mid-December. Saskatoon residents can also sign up to volunteer for the kettle program here.