As part of the 2025 Good Works Project, the École Good Shepherd School Grade 2 class collected 425 lbs of food for the Okotoks Food Bank.
The food drive, between March 17 and April 17, brought in an assortment of needed items, such as canned goods, cereal, and snack food.
“It’s a great time of year to run these food drives because this is usually when we start getting a little bit lean in our supplies,” said Bente Yanota, Okotoks Food Bank Executive Director.
Item donations typically slow down in the spring, but the food bank’s supply is lower than normal for this time of year.
“There’s just as many people accessing the programs, so we have less variety for them to choose from,” Yanota said.
Every week, the food bank distributes 32 hampers, which include about seven to 10 days’ worth of food.
In addition to hampers, about 350 families access the food bank shelves multiple times a week.
“Our numbers are stable, but we're still at maximum, we're not exceeding it right now because we've had to put limitations on the help yourself program,” Yanota said. “Our hamper program is always full. We're always just running at maximum capacity.”
Right now, the food bank is low on toiletries, cleaning supplies, snack items, and juice boxes.
“We like to keep their kitchen stocked up with all the essential items that they need,” Yanota said. “Right now, we just really want anything.”
Anyone interested in organizing a food drive or donating is encouraged to visit the Okotoks Food Bank website for more information.
Monetary donations are accepted and used to purchase perishable items, or items can be donated in bins at the local grocery stores.
“If anybody wants to run any kind of food drive, we're always open to that, especially going into the summer months,” Yanota said. “It's always great to have a little bit of extra food around that time."