In response to rising food costs and the increased use of food banks during the COVID-19 pandemic, last week, we asked you, our loyal readers, to help us support the Helping Hand Food Bank with an online food drive.
The holidays can be a particularly stressful time for all of us, but especially for those in need. The added strain on our local food bank means it needs extra support from caring community members to ensure that no one in our city goes without.
With this in mind, BradfordToday embarked on a campaign to raise much-needed funds for our local food bank.
The campaign was simple. We secured food packages donated by Zehrs and asked our readers to purchase the bags at $25 apiece through our online pop-up store, with the cash and the food to be donated to the local food bank.
BradfordToday would then match the $25 purchase price to double the donation.
But that’s not all.
We were able to leverage the power of our community to make the donations even bigger by asking our local business partners to match our donation.
Addictive Design, Bradford Print Shoppe, Botas Electrical, Bradford Wolves Soccer Club, Wolves Athletic Centre and The Dias Group all answered the call.
With their support and yours, for each food package purchased in our pop-up store, every dollar was matched 18 times with all proceeds going directly to the Helping Hands Food Bank.
In Bradford, the generosity of our readers and advertisers was translated into a donation of $3,000 for the food bank, plus the food itself.
On average, a family with four or more members that uses the Helping Hand Food Bank will receive a family food package, which consists of non-perishable food items, meat, milk, eggs and margarine as well as bread, bagels and desserts.
One bag costs the food bank approximately $80 to serve. That means our collective donation of $3,000 will help to feed over 35 families this holiday season.
Thank you for helping us to strengthen our community and make the holiday season a bit brighter here in Bradford.
