History

Edmonton’s Food Bank History

Edmonton’s Food Bank was born through the realisation of two factors by a small number of individuals from various local non-profit organizations: hunger was affecting the lives of many of their clients and edible food was being wasted in the community. There was a desire to reconcile these realities and to establish a channel for surplus food from the food industry to those who were experiencing food insecurity.

In April 1980, an ad hoc committee began investigating the possibility of establishing a food bank to serve agencies located in the inner city. Interest was high among these agencies to provide meal or snack programs to people in need. With funding provided by the Marian Centre, an official from Second Harvest Food Bank (Phoenix, Arizona) was asked to attend a workshop to provide his expertise. Following several meetings, an official steering committee was appointed by the participating agencies to carry out the planning for the Food Bank until the organization became legally incorporated and an official Board of Directors was elected.

On January 16, 1981, the Edmonton Gleaners Association, more commonly known as Edmonton’s Food Bank, received it’s official charter of incorporation and Canada’s first food bank was born.