'Demand continues to be high': Annual food drive aims to stock Calgary Food Bank shelves amid growing food insecurity

As demand for food assistance continues to climb across the city, Calgarians opened their doors and pantries Saturday to help stock the Calgary Food Bank’s shelves.

The CFB’s 22nd annual City-Wide Food Drive is aiming to collect over 204,000 kilograms of food and $100,000 in financial donations. Roughly 8,000 volunteers assisted with the collections from more than 300,000 homes. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints made up the majority of volunteers, with food bank and community volunteers also assisting.

“The Calgary Food Bank has this incredible tagline— By community, for community —and I think days like this are just so indicative of that,” said Melissa From, CEO and president of CFB. “Whether it’s the City-Wide Food Drive or any of the other myriad of initiatives that happen in our city to support us, our city steps up.”

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While final numbers won’t be known until Monday, From said seeing such immense support from the city and volunteers is motivation enough.

“This is one of the best days at the Calgary Food Bank,” From said. “Every day we get to see significant numbers of need in our city, but we have these amazing days during the year where we actually get to see the other side, which is just significant bursts of generosity and kindness.”

The drive comes as demand for food assistance remains high across the country. According to Food Banks Canada , one in four Canadians currently live with food insecurity, and in March 2025 alone, FBC recorded nearly 2.2 million food bank visits.

“ Demand continues to be high at the Calgary Food Bank, and really at food banks across the country,” From said. “Obviously, we’ve had significant population growth in our city, but also significant inflation.”

According to CFB’s 2024-2025 annual report, it distributed 202,926 emergency food hampers between September 2024 and August 2025, a 17 per cent increase from the previous year and nearly triple the number distributed in 2020. Its 2025 fact shee t also reported that demand increased by 100 per cent over the previous two years.

The organization’s research also found that people accessing the food bank while employed has been increasing since 2021, with insufficient wages, inconsistent hours and rising costs among the factors contributing to food insecurity.

“I think anybody who’s filled up their car or bought a bag of groceries in the last couple of weeks, is seeing that and feeling that themselves,” From said.

Food drives also help the food bank stretch its resources, she said, as it saves the organization from having to buy shelf-stable items. That way donated money can be allocated to fresh produce, dairy and meat so that recipients are still getting a well-balanced diet.

“We are distributing over twenty million pounds of food a year,” From said. “Food drives like this not only provide the important dry goods and pantry staples that we need, but it also then frees up our financial resources.”