The change of seasons from Summer to Fall sometimes feels like the whole world slows down and while our families settle into a new routine for the school year, October lends itself perfectly to being a time for reflection, gratitude, and giving back!

As our team at Indeygo wraps up our annual Harvest Bundle Fundraiser, we’re happy to share that 30 different schools across Alberta participated in this year’s fundraiser, including schools from Edmonton, Calgary, Airdrie, Red Deer, Sylvan Lake, Whitecourt, and Drayton Valley, just to name a few! As part of our Giving Back Food Bank Option, participating schools made over 7000 food bank donations and donated more than 7000 lbs. of veggies to various food banks! It’s great to see the impact of our Harvest Bundle Fundraiser had for communities across Alberta! If you’d like to be a part of this fundraiser next year, get in touch early.

October also brings the classic Fall holiday for Canadians: Thanksgiving

Celebrating harvest is at the root of the Thanksgiving Holiday. As we gathered around big, delicious meals with family and friends this year, we spent time to remember and share gratitude for where your food came from, the farmers who grew and harvested it, and the work that was put in to get it to your table.

We are lucky as Canadians to have some of the most sustainable and regenerative farming techniques used anywhere in the world. However, you’ll be hard-pressed to hear Canadian farmers boast about this in their modesty so now is the time to celebrate them and their hard work!

Gratitude and giving back go hand-in-hand

A popular and wonderful thing to do during the Fall season and after Thanksgiving is giving back to your local Food Bank!

According to Food Banks Canada, 1,303,997 visits were made to Canadian Food Banks in 2021. In March of 2021 alone, 3,216,631 meals and snacks were served. And while 17.8% of Canadian food bank users are single adults with children, the total percentage of food bank users in Canada that are children is 33.3%! If you’d like to know more about Food Banks Canada’s HungerCount Report, check out their latest 2021 report here.

How can you help?

There are so many ways to support your local food bank, so we’ll run you through some of the most popular ways and what steps you can take to make sure your impact is felt!

Volunteer your time

Most local food banks are majorly (if not entirely) volunteer run so check in with one your local food bank to see when they need help from volunteers because it’s guaranteed that they can find somehow for you to help! This could include tasks like unpacking groceries, organizing products for food bank pick-ups, collecting donations from various locations around town, or being on hand to help hand out food bank items to food bank users.

Drop off key items to your local food bank

Many food banks will accept a variety of donations in the form of non-perishable food items, selected perishable food items, and other non-food items. Your local food bank may have a Wishlist or most wanted items, so be sure to check out their website and social media platforms – if you can’t find anything, don’t be shy to reach out and ask what would help them most! If you’re in the Calgary area, the Calgary Food Bank has their Donation Wish List online here.

Our fundraisers are easy to run with a variety of product choices to please even the pickiest eaters! From sweet options like cookies, muffins, and cinnamon buns to savoury options like our beef jerky fundraisers, we’ve got you covered. We even have coffee and tea fundraisers to stock up on as we ease our way into the coziest time of the year when there’s nothing better than being curled up beside a warm fire with a good book, a cup of tea or coffee and a blanket.

Hopefully we’ve inspired you to spend a little time this Fall to give back in whatever way you can, big or small, to your local food bank and to take some time to show gratitude to those who work hard to put food in our fridges, on our tables, and in our bellies.

As always, if you need help with your fundraising efforts, make sure to reach out to our helpful team at Indeygo to plan your next successful fundraiser! We can’t wait to hear from you and help blow your fundraising goal out of the water!