LETHBRIDGE – The Community Foundation of Lethbridge and Southwestern Alberta is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a $50,000 donation to the Lethbridge Food Bank.
The money will allow for renovations of the current space and improvements to the privacy of client intakes and food management processes.
The president of the Lethbridge Food Bank said the support will allow better service for clients.
“If we didn’t have the donations, we would have to use money out of our own pocket and that’s $50,000 on food,” Cathy Gejdos said. “So this gives us an opportunity to use money that would not otherwise be available to us.”
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For the past few years, the food bank has provided support to more than 1,600 clients and over 650 monthly hampers.
“I think it’s very important that we support our community and non-profits and help them obtain money so they can do worthwhile projects,” said Dennis Hatt, president of the Community Foundation of Lethbridge and Southwestern Alberta.
The warehouse typically moves 50,000 pounds of food per month to clients and partner food banks.
Gejdos said changes to the food bank will ultimately benefit other food bank organizations as well.
“Through a cooperative relationship with Interfaith Food Bank, the two organizations share a client intake data system and other resources to maximize food storage and distribution of food to improve efficiency.”
Currently, the overall goal of the food bank is to raise approximately $125,000 to assist with the completion of the project.
Renovations and building upgrades are expected to be complete by mid-August 2016.