Gondek launches Mayor's Annual Christmas Food Drive with call to stuff 19 buses to help fight food insecurity in Calgary

Calgary Food Bank CEO Melissa From and Calgary mayor Jyoti Gondek Saturday at the Calgary Co-op Crowfoot Food Centre, where they kicked off the annual mayor's Christmas food drive.

The mayor of Calgary has launched her annual food drive.

Jyoti Gondek, dressed in a Calgary 88s team jacket, a toque and sneakers, launched the annual Mayor’s Annual Christmas Food Drive Saturday morning at the Calgary Co-Op Crowfoot Food Centre, where she helped launch the annual Stuff-a-Bus day for the Calgary Food Bank.

“What I’m seeing and hearing in our city right now is about a third of families are experiencing some sort of food insecurity,” Gondek said. “We’ve heard from a lot of parents that they’re skipping meals to make sure their kids are well-fed so this is a serious situation.”

Calgary Transit is partnering with Calgary Co-op Saturday to help stuff buses located at all 19 Co-op stores across the city.

“Any donation that anybody can make would be greatly appreciated by so many families," Gondek said.

"And if you’re someone who’s not in position to donate something this year but are someone who needs to go to the food bank, please know that we are here and we’re looking out for you," she added.

“We’re going to stuff 19 buses to make sure we can have every family in Calgary with food security.”

Calgary Food Bank CEO Melissa From said the jump in food insecurity and spike in demand comes from an assortment of issues.

“At the Calgary Food Bank right now, we’re feeding more people than ever, and our warehouse and shelves are getting pretty empty,” From said.

“A year-an- a-half ago, we were helping out about 400 households a day,” she added. “Today, we’ll have about 750 households coming through the Calgary Food Bank looking for help with support and feeding their families.

“(So it has) almost doubled in 18 months.”

Mayor Jyoti Gondek launched her annual Christmas food drive Saturday at the Co-op in Crowfoot.

Starting on Nov. 27, the Mayor’s Christmas Food Drive will be complemented by the Councillors Challenge, which is a competition among city councillors to bring in the most donations of non-perishable food to be distributed through the food bank.

“Really the competition is friendly between all of us, but the purpose is meaningful,” Gondek said.

“(It’s) to make sure all Calgary families have enough food in their homes -- and that starts on the 27^th and runs until the first week of December, where you can go into community, find the location where your local councillor has put up a box to donate (food items at)."

The Food Bank’s wish list of non-perishable items can be found here.

For more information about the Calgary Food Bank’s Stuff-a-Bus campaign, go here.

With files from CTV's Tyler Barrow