The “Good Buy to Hunger” campaign broke its records this year by a huge margin.
The campaign began on Nov. 26 as a partnership between the Moose Jaw Co-op Food Store, CP Rail, Golden West Radio, and the Moose Jaw and District Food Bank.
As part of the campaign, customers were able to add a $10 bag to their grocery purchases. Despite the campaign officially ending on Dec. 16, the Moose Jaw Co-op will continue selling those food bags until the 24th, and deliveries to the Food Bank will continue until every dollar has been accounted for.
“As of yesterday, we’re at about 1200 bags sold just from customer purchases,” said Michaela Turner, marketing and community relations manager at the Co-op. “And that’s a new record for us. Last year, we were around 700.”
Turner works closely on the annual event with Gabrielle Belanger, supervisor of support services at CP Rail Moose Jaw. Donations from local businesses always pour in on the last day of the campaign, so Turner and Belanger won’t know for a while just how much food was donated. It’s safe to say, however, that there are many tonnes.
Belanger coordinates the CP Holiday Train in Moose Jaw. The train is strictly dedicated for the holidays, and tours across Canada and into the US, working with local food banks at every stop to maximize donations.
Belanger added that while the Holiday Train stops in many places, Moose Jaw’s food drive is special. “We were number two in all of North America two years ago.”
The Holiday Train will be an online event again this year due to the pandemic and will be streaming tomorrow, Saturday 18 Dec. at 7 pm CST at www.cpr.ca/en/community/holiday-train.
Tim Wonsiak, grocery manager at the Moose Jaw Co-op Food Store, said he begins ordering for the Good Buy to Hunger campaign around late September or early October.
“I try to find the best deals I can so the donations we receive go as far as possible,” Wonsiak explained. He said that while customers pay $10 for the bags at the checkout, he leverages the wholesale cost of groceries and the best deals possible in the months leading up to the drive so that the value of food eventually delivered to the food bank is about $16.
“I talk to the food bank as well, and I ask them, ‘what else is needed?’” Wonsiak said. Sometimes canned fruit is important, sometimes it’s toilet paper or cereal or beans. Wonsiak said the bag customers buy at the checkout isn’t actually what’s delivered – it all translates into pallets of wholesale goods.
Firefighters from the Moose Jaw Fire Department were on hand at 4 pm on Thursday to deliver the food to the food bank, using a trailer donated by Ottawa Real Estate Moose Jaw. On Friday morning, Jason Moore, development manager at Moose Jaw and District Food Bank, said that eight pallets have been delivered so far.
“We are so grateful to the community, once again, for another incredible Good Buy to Hunger campaign,” Moore told MooseJawToday.com. “Just in time for the holidays, we’ve been able to make some very nice hampers of food for those people who need it. We are blessed to live in such a generous community, full of people who help each other out.”
The Co-op also donated 2592 cans of beans ($4500 worth, 3900 lbs/1769 kgs) over and above the results of the campaign.
“We won’t know the final tally for a while,” Michaela Turner added. “We’ve had big surprises in past years, and a lot of it is last minute. It’s an exciting day and it’s always fun.”
UPDATED: The final totals so far are 2414 Bags of food sold. This total includes all Moose Jaw customer and corporate donations, as well as Avonlea Co-op's contribution. As mentioned, bags will continue to be sold at the Moose Jaw Co-op's customer checkouts until Dec. 24.
