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, when it was my turn to do the single parent thing, with my own spawn.
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 $1,000 goal
2020 -- $1,175 raised out of a $1,000 goal
For 2021 our goal is $1,200 which, because of the food bank's connections is enough to provide 3,600 meals and brighten a lot of holidays.
