Innovative online food drive encourages donors to #GiveHealthy in Hinton, Alberta

A new online provincial food drive is coming to Alberta on April 16 – the first of its kind in Canada – and will encourage donors to ‘Give Healthy’ to participating local food banks.

Today, Hinton Food Bank is announcing the #GiveHealthy food drive in our community. It is part of a larger, online food movement that hopes to influence the way people donate to their local food bank.

#GiveHealthy is an organization that launched in 2017 and the goal is to revolutionize the typical food drive, by focusing on donations of healthy, nutritious food and emphasizing the fact that‘hunger is a health issue.’

“This isn’t your traditional food drive,” said Stephanie Walsh-Rigby, executive director of Food Banks Alberta, the provincial association of food banks.“Donate through an online platform and select fresh, high quality perishable food for your food bank – food which cannot be accepted at a regular community food drive.”

Donors select from a variety of foods hand-picked by each food bank. The food will be delivered to the food bank when the campaign is over. It will arrive in peak condition and when the food bank needs it the most.

The Hinton Food Bank values the commitment to make healthy food donations from the community through this unique, online food drive.

In responding to why Hinton decided to participate in this campaign in its first year in Alberta, Chairperson Bernie Kreiner said: “This campaign is so easy for individuals to support from home, just a few clicks on a computer and you have contributed to your local community. And the contribution comes to us in the form of FRESH FRUIT AND VEGETABLES which is so important to provide to our clients to support their health.”

Food bank usage in Alberta has increased 150% since 2008. Demand is steady in the summer months, while donations typically drop off. Forty percent of people helped by food banks are children.

The #GiveHealthy food drive campaign runs all of April with a provincial goal of raising 50,000 lbs provincially, a value of about than $125,000. The Hinton Food Bank goal is 2,000lbs of food, a value of about $5,000.

There are 20 participating Alberta food banks in the campaign, including Hinton and Edson. Donors can contribute to a food bank specifically, or the provincial campaign. Food donated to each food bank will go there directly and food donated provincially will be shared with smaller food banks around Alberta.

The #GiveHealthy food drive encourages a shift toward giving more healthy food and donating food that food banks need to support clients. It is a grass-roots initiative that relies on word-of-mouth and social media sharing to spread the word and encourage participation.

On April 16 the campaign website goes live Province wide, although in Hinton, it is live already APRIL 1st. You can see make a donation to your local food bank with the link below.

https://ampyourgood.com/user/ campaigns/3094/stores

More general information about Hinton Food Bank as it relates to the Give Healthy campaign is at:

https://ampyourgood.com/user/ campaigns/3094/single_campaign

THE AFBN ANNOUNCEMENT IS AT: http://foodbanksalberta. ca/2018/03/16/givehealthy-onlinefood-drive-announced-in-alberta/

For further information, contact Bernie Kreiner-Chairperson-Hinton Food Bank at Bernie.kreiner@shaw.ca or 780-865-9355.