When I was a kid money was tight--especially during the time my mom was a single mother of three--but the food bank was there to help make ends meet. We were lucky in that we didn't need to use it regularly, but every year we received a 'Christmas hamper' and they really made the holidays shine. There was always a big turkey, for starters, and then the rest of the contents were like an amazing surprise bag of food. I still remember the excitement I felt pulling things out of the box with my mom. Or later, with my daughter.
These days I'm in a much better position financially, but that's not true of everyone. In fact, more families than ever need help from the food bank to make their holidays awesome so we've begun dedicating the annual Giftmas Blog Tour to collecting donations for the Edmonton Food Bank.
This fundraiser's history:
2016 -- $521 raised out of a $500 goal
2017 -- $1,094 raised out of a $522 goal
2018 -- $1,127 raised out of a $750 goal
2019 -- $1,355 raised out of a $1000 goal
Usually I try to increase our goal every year, but 2020 has been a beast so though I think it's especially important to have this fundraiser this year, I also want to be reasonable in my expectations. But hey... if we should happen to blow them out of the water, that would be good too :)
For 2020 our goal is $1,000 which, because of the food bank's connections is enough to provide 3,000 meals and brighten a lot of holidays.
