There’s a new effort to help the food bank support struggling Calgarians.
It provides a chance to turn your empty bottles and cans into hampers full of food.
Thirty bottle depots around Calgary are teaming up on a massive bottle drive this weekend.
When you bring in your empties, the depots will send the Calgary Food Bank whatever donation you’d like from your return money.
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The owner of the Beddington Heights Bottle Depot (BHBD), which is participating in the event, is a veteran of hosting bottle drives for groups like minor sports teams.
“It’s a good time to do this because normally all the community organizations and groups do bottle drives outside holiday times,” BHBD owner Karim Dossa said. “This is a good time to do this drive because there’s a lot of bottles at this time year, post-Stampede and all that.”
The extra support also comes at a good time for the food bank, which has seen demand almost double in a little over a year.
“There’s a perfect storm right now,” the Calgary Food Bank’s CEO Melissa From said. ”The bottle drive is an amazing opportunity for folks to give back in a really easy way.”
The city-wide bottle drive to support the food bank happens on Saturday and Sunday.
“We are saying, ‘bring it, Calgary,’” Dossa said. “It helps people in need and it’s community helping community and it’s very important.”