CALGARY -- Giving Tuesday kicked off in Calgary with a group of Calgary Realtors offering to donate 25 per cent of their December commission to the Calgary Food Bank.
The four held up a large sign reading “Will Sell Home For Food” at the intersection of Edmonton Trail and Memorial Drive Tuesday morning, advertising their month-long campaign.
This is the first year the team of Realtors from the Royal LePage Mission office have done this sort of fundraising but, according to Realtor Chris Matlashewski, it was an easy decision to make.
“I've been doing contributions to the food bank for the last couple of years. And then this is just something that we're doing to build on top of that,” he said.
“Collecting the food is one thing, but we're hoping that we can sort of take this to a new level.”
Matlashewski said an individual Realtor’s donations could range between $1,000 and $6,000 per home sold, depending on the final sale price.
The Calgary Food Bank said monetary donations get the best bang for the buck, that every dollar donated In cash allows it to distribute $5 worth of food through its hamper programs.
The Realtors’ donation program will run through the month of December.
Giving Tuesday is considered the “opening day of the giving season.”
It is a day when charities, companies and individuals rally for their favourite causes. It is a direct response to commercialization and consumerism Of Black Friday and Cyber Monday
Giving Tuesday began in 2011, although that year it actually started on the Monday following Black Friday. It was moved to the Tuesday so it wouldn’t compete with Cyber Monday.
