Members of the 2019 Target Hunger committee (Photo courtesy Target Hunger on Twitter @targethungeryql)

By Justin Goulet

Helping the Hungry

Volunteers needed for Target Hunger

May 15, 2019 | 8:16 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Volunteers are needed for an annual campaign to help the less fortunate.

Target Hunger is coming up in June. Volunteers deliver and pick up yellow bags to households across Lethbridge. Residents are asked to fill the bags up with much-needed items for local food banks.

Danielle McIntyre, the Executive Director with the Interfaith Food Bank Society of Lethbridge, said Target Hunger takes place each year on the second Sunday of June.

“We engage volunteers from the community to go out and deliver the bright yellow Target Hunger bags to every household in Lethbridge during the first week of June,” she explained.

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“On the second Saturday of June, our same volunteers will go back out and pick up the bags that hopefully have been filled with our most wanted foods by community members.”

The bags are then brought to Lethbridge’s two local food banks, where more volunteers will sort through the bags and help restock the shelves.

McIntyre has been with the food bank for 13 years and said Target Hunger has been running even before she began working with the bank.

“Target Hunger actually initiated out of our LDS community, our Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and then it has expanded to become a community-wide initiative by being spearheaded through our food banks,” she added.

“So, Lethbridge Food Bank and Interfaith Food Bank participate in partnership with schools, churches, businesses and community volunteers from any walk of life to get this all done.”

The goal for this year is to collect 100,000 pounds of food.

“We’ve had that same goal for several years now, and we base this on the fact that we have about 1000,000 people in the community. One pound of food is almost equivalent to one can per person and we know that most people tend to put more than one can into their yellow bags.”

McIntyre said she believes the highest total they have reached was just over 60,000 pounds of food.

“Each food bank processes more than 60,000 pounds of food each and every month, so we’re really hoping that by having that 100,000 pound goal, we can inspire more (people) to give more food.”

On Target Hunger’s website, people interested in volunteering can view a map and choose a route that is convenient for them.

“Once you’ve signed up, you will get the confirmation email with your route number, how many bags and all that kind of stuff,” McIntyre said.

“Then you would come down to the food bank, pick up the bags, take them out and deliver and then pick up those same bags on the Saturday.”

McIntyre said they want people to sign up soon, as routes are filling up quickly.

“At this moment, we are need of people to really help us out on the north side,” she noted.

“It seems that the west side routes are filling up very fast, same with the south and we have a little bit more work to do to make sure we have every area of the city covered.”

McIntyre said there are other opportunities available for the campaign, such as working at the food banks during the collection and sorting day on Saturday, June 9.