Moose Jaw's food bank raises $43,000 in annual End Hunger campaign

Food insecurity is becoming more and more present in today’s world with the rise of inflation, which in turn has increased the price of food, creating an impact on people’s bottom line. 

The Moose Jaw and District Food Bank are doing what they can to end hunger within the community and surrounding areas. One step towards that is with their annual End Hunger campaign, which ran throughout July and August.  

Moose Jaw and District Food Bank development manager Jason Moore wanted to say a big thank you to all those that made a food or monetary donation to this year's campaign. 

“Thank you, Moose Jaw, for the support over the summer with the campaign, we raised almost $43,000, which was a little bit short of the [$100,000] goal,” says Moore. “In these unprecedented times with grocery costs rising and gas, $43,000 isn’t something to be ashamed of, we’re pretty excited with the amount that came in.” 

Moore adds that the $43,000 raised will help tie over the food bank until their Big Better Together Food Drive, which is scheduled to be on Oct. 31. This year’s food drive will be the first time it has been held in person in over two years, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  

The money raised from this year's campaign will go towards purchasing food – in particular, non-perishable items to add to their weekly food hampers that they distribute to clients. Along with their End Hunger campaign, Moore notes that the community has continued to support the food bank with continuous donations.  

“We’re getting a huge amount of produce and perishable food items coming in. As a matter of fact, just yesterday a fella donated 250 pounds of ground beef from his farm, which is unbelievable. That’s going to help 250 families over the next month here.” 

He noted that the Moose Jaw Food Bank has a partnership with Food Banks Canada to purchase food at discounted rates, but they are feeling the pinch with rising food costs, an increase in gas prices and an increase in people using the food bank.   

Those wishing to book a food hamper or more information on how to donate to the food bank can do so HERE.