Executive Director’s Annual Report 2015

Submitted by

Danielle McIntyre

April 2016

2015 Food Hamper Statistics

1103 3 AVENUE NORTH

LETHBRIDGE AB T1H 0H7

PHONE 403 320 8779

FAX 403 328 0521

www.interfaithfoodbank.ca

Executive Director’s Annual Report 2015

We began 2015 optimistic about the slow and steady recovery of our provincial economy as we had seen a slight

decline in the number of people requesting our services in 2014. The economic landscape in Alberta changed

drastically in 2015, however, and we started to see the effects of the strain placed on our province after the price

of oil dropped to $50 per barrel in March.

The economy impacted both those we support, and those who support the food bank. We are so very fortunate

to belong to a community that recognizes the need to help one another through tough times. We saw many new

initiatives for raising funds brought forth from community members. We saw extra bodies step up to volunteer.

Together, with the support of our tireless volunteers and faithful donors, Interfaith Food Bank was able to

provide the following services during 2015:

7531 Hampers were distributed to assist 10,590 Adults and 7635 Children

10,697 daily food supplements provided (over and above hamper allotments)

803 Christmas Hampers were distributed, helping 1115 adults and 867 children to enjoy Christmas,

complete with regular monthly hamper allotments and Ham or Turkey dinner. Working collaboratively

with Lethbridge Food Bank and Salvation Army, 1622 households, consisting of 2262 adults and 1765

children, received supplies necessary for a Merry Christmas and 1656 children ages 17 and under

received toy bundles. We experienced a 15% increase in those supported for Christmas compared to

2014, as had been expected due to emerging trends in usage throughout the year.

70 Single parent families received larger than usual hampers for the winter months, thanks to our

Follow the Star Program, providing for 70 single parents and 182 children

45 Families were provided with supplies for the Christmas Meal and gifts for each family member

through our Adopt-A-Family Program, providing for 86 adults and 119 children

203 Children were referred to receive backpacks & school supplies through the Ready Set Go Back to

School Fair, in which we participated with numerous community agencies to provide almost 1100 local

children with the supplies necessary for the First Day at School

53 Clothing vouchers were distributed to clothe 78 adults and 57 children

1083 Diabetics were assisted with their special dietary needs through our Diabetic Bundle Program

577 Infants were assisted by our Baby Bundle Program

50 Homes were equipped with a Smart Start for Safety pack to ensure a safe home for babies

277 Pregnant mothers received additional food during this crucial developmental stage

452 Birthday bundles allowed parents to offer something special for their children on this special day

542 New clients were added to our database

Additional Food Packages

CLIENT INTAKE This year we saw what was supposed to be a slow recovery in the economy turn to tough times for Albertans.

The price of oil dropped drastically, unemployment rose steadily, and food bank usage increased accordingly.

While Lethbridge tends to weather the “economic storms” better than some other communities in our province

that are more industry dependent, we experienced the spin offs of the hits to the oil and gas industry. We served

an increase of 12% more households in comparison to 2014, and saw an increase of 18% in those accessing the

daily food supplements over and above our hamper allotments.

Food Bank usage across the country is tracked by Food Banks Canada and the annual Hunger Count Survey that

polls food banks each year in March, and compares statistics nationally and provincially. Alberta experienced

the highest jump in food banks usage, reporting an increase of more than 23% compared to March 2014.

Locally, our usage did not increase until later in the year.

The Summary below identifies how Interfaith Food Bank client access compares with the national and

provincial averages.

Food Banks Canada National

Hunger Count Comparisons

Canada Alberta Interfaith

March 2015

Interfaith

December

2015

Interfaith

March

2014

Interfaith

March

2009

People Served in Current Year 852,137 67,443 1451 1982 1435 1304

People Served in Year Prior 841,191 49,766 1435 1673 1333 692

Difference 10,946 17, 677 16 309 102 612

Percent Change 1.3% 23.4% - 19% 1% 88%

Percentage of Children 35.8% 41.2% 41% 44% 44% 45%

Seniors 65+ 4.9% 3.1% 1.8% 4% 1.9% 1%

Report Employment Income 11.6% 28.7% 20% 24% 22% 16%

Receive Employment Insurance 4.0% 4.5% 2.1% 3% 2.3% 5%

Receive Social Assistance 46.3% 31.7% 28% 22% 27.8% 46%

Receive Disability Supports 18.3% 13.1% 25% 26% 22.6% 18%

Lack of sufficient income continues to be the main cause for families to request access to our services. In our

community, we find that the majority of our families could benefit from more affordable housing options, and

increases to the minimum wage and government income support programs. Similar to most of Alberta, we see

more working people accessing the food bank, though the largest percentages of those accessing services are on

government support and disability programs which continue to struggle in providing enough to meet basic

needs.

In addition to providing emergency food assistance, Interfaith works closely with government and community

agencies to link our clients with resources that may address the underlying issues that place them in need of our

services. We have seen an increase in the number of new Canadians requesting assistance, as well as in the

number of single individuals, working people and those who live in subsidized housing. We find that by

working collaboratively with other community agencies, we can offer dignified choices and supports to our

clients in hopes of moving them past the food bank lineup.

Regular communication and gathering of feedback about our

services is essential to providing support that actually makes a

difference in the lives of those we serve. In addition to collecting

statistical information about client access and demographics, our

families participate in an annual survey to provide their opinions

of their experience with Interfaith Food Bank. First and foremost,

our clients express gratitude for the dignified manner in which we

provide our services. Not only are they provided with resources to

meet their immediate needs, but many report they felt uplifted and

hopeful after visiting our client intake. Many expressed thanks to

our staff and volunteers, and several were very grateful to have

obtained referrals to other community resources that could address

the underlying needs that placed them in need of our services.

Most Common Referral Requests 2015

Photo Identification

Emergency Hampers (additional food

supports after 1st hamper is accessed)

Clothing

Furniture

Assistance with Rent & Utility Bills

Subsidized Housing

Tax Preparation

School Lunch Programs

Library Cards

Interfaith Kitchen Programs

VOLUNTEERS

Volunteers are the lifeblood of Interfaith Food Bank, and we rely on their efforts to ensure the quality and

consistency of our services. Our volunteer program continues to grow and flourish with more than 100

volunteers contributing to our activities annually. In 2015, volunteers contributed 11,888 hours of service to

governance, operational, administrative and fund-raising activities. This equates to 6.8 full-time positions (or

almost 7 years of time by a full-time employee) and a minimum dollar value of $133,145.60 in free labour!

Our volunteers fill either regular or casual

positions and are recruited, screened and

trained according to the National

Volunteer Code and our own internal

policies and procedures. We hosted 2

Volunteer Appreciation Events in 2015,

and again acknowledged long term

volunteers with 5, 10, 15, and 20 year

service awards. In 2015, Catholic Charities provided

$5000 for our Volunteer Program to cover

costs associated with recruitment, training

and recognition of volunteers. This allows

us to ensure a consistent, quality standard

of service and provide a valuable

experience for our volunteers.

2015 Volunteer Hours – 11,888

As Hosts of the Provincial Food Bank

Conference in May 2015, we showcased

our facility and programming, and

provided our entire staff team with

professional development opportunities

ADMINISTRATION We have continued to improve our administrative procedures for tracking donations, managing inventory and

recording client access. In partnership with the Lethbridge Food Bank, we are able to house client files within

one networked system, ensuring that both local food banks have current information on clients accessing

services. With the joint system, we are able to ensure consistent screening processes and limit duplication of

services in addition to tracking the agency referrals from both food banks in an attempt to help families progress

along a continuum of services.

Administration of contributions has drastically improved since 2010 as we continue to become more familiar

with the donor tracking software. We distributed sponsorship packages for the second time this year along with

the fourth quarter receipts from 2014 in February, saving on postage and turning the receipting process into a

communications opportunity at the same time. Our two annual newsletters were mailed out using an addressed

admail service offered through Canada Post, and we continue to use our own postage meter in 2015 to save on

the increased postage rates introduced at the beginning of the year.

We are grateful for the support we receive from volunteers at MNP who assist us in tracking our payroll, and

administrative staff provided much assistance to maintaining accurate financial records and administration of

our overall operations. Donor recognition, event management, marketing and promotions are also done by our

administrative staff, and this year we were able to update our program brochures, design and update our

promotional displays and information posters within the facility to showcase our operations at the Food Banks

Alberta AGM and Provincial Conference that we co-hosted with Lethbridge Food Bank in May.

Interfaith Food Bank continue our work as a Good Food Organization, one

of the many groups representing communities all across the country working

together towards a healthy and fair food system. Community Food Centres

Canada will support the Good Food Organizations in becoming even more

robust and effective at delivering healthy and dignified food programs in

their communities. By joining the program we are making a commitment to

offering respectful, responsive, and impactful food programs in our

communities as a way of decreasing hunger, building better physical and

mental health, and reducing social isolation.

Additional administrative accomplishments for 2015 include:

Co-Hosting the Alberta Food Banks Provincial Conference

and Annual General Meeting – we are proud to announce

that our first attempt at hosting the conference resulted in the

most attendees and most food banks represented in

conference history!

Preparation and submission of several grant applications,

including successful submissions to United Way, Food

Banks Canada , Catholic Charities, Canada Summer Jobs,

and several smaller proposals that realized funding for

programs such as The Interfaith Chinook Country Kitchen,

Interfaith Learning Garden, and to cover technology and

equipment expenses.

Issued 2690 charitable tax receipts to acknowledge taxable

gifts received in 2015, acknowledgement and recording of

3471 separate donations.

Conducted the Annual Hunger Count Survey, as well as

polled our existing clients and volunteers to gather

stakeholder feedback and assess our programs and services.

Efficient management of records, receipts and finances.

FINANCE AND FUND-RAISING Support for Interfaith Food Bank’s programs and services come from a variety of sources, the majority of which

include donations from individuals and community groups. The bulk of our support is received in-kind through

donations of both food and non-food product. Financial support is crucial to our ability to cover operating costs,

and is most often recruited through donations and grant funding.

Interfaith recruits financial gifts through our annual Bakeless Bake Sale and Christmas Campaign, through the

operation of The Second Door Thrift Store, and fund-raising events such as our annual Whoop Up Days

Pancake Breakfast and Friends of Interfaith Charity Dinner & Silent Auction. We also generated a small portion

of our funds for operations as landlords, renting the front half of our building to West Wind Gymnastics Club

until the end of October.

Online Giving and Social Media Our website continues to be a great fund-raiser, as it incorporates the option for online giving, and in 2015,

almost $46,600 was contributed online – more than double our online donations in 2014! Donations received

online are administered through CanadaHelps.org, a non-profit organization that accepts, receipts, and forwards

donations directly to charities. The addition of online giving options has proven to be beneficial for accepting

credit card donations, monthly gifts, and donations of securities and/or investments.

In 2015, we continued to take advantage of our Facebook and Twitter accounts and have added many more

“followers” and “friends”. We will continue to explore social marketing options, as we find the instant nature of

social media connections to be very beneficial to our cause.

Fund-raising Activities Fund-raising has continued to be a major part of our activities at Interfaith Food Bank, and the majority of fund-

raising activities are done by outside groups on our behalf. With each event, we also try to include some form

of advocacy for our clients, most often by including an element of education about our cause. Working with the

media, the faith based community, schools and local businesses, we have attempted to keep the need to help the

hungry forefront in the minds of community members. The following major fund-raising campaigns and food

drives contributed to our ability to offer the quality and quantity of programs in 2015, however, many more

community events than these listed helped to raise funds, food, and other support:

AMA Annual Shred-It Event

Birdies for Kids/Shaw Charity Classic

Canada Day Run in a Red Dress – Runner’s Soul

Can Man Dan Provincial Food Drive

CANstruction

Centre Village Mall Toy Mountain

Christmas Hope Hockey Challenge

CTV and Safeway Friends Helping Friends

Curves Annual Food Drive

Davis GMC Annual Lube, Oil and Filter Day

Dupont Pioneer Food Drive

Evangelical Free Church Christmas Production

Farm Credit Canada Drive Away Hunger

Feed The Bug/Heep the Jeep

Friends of Interfaith Charity Dinner & Silent

Auction

Grow A Row/Garden Produce Program

Interfaith Annual First Day at School Program

Interfaith Change for the Better Campaign

Interfaith Food Bank Bakeless Bake Sale

Interfaith Food Bank Christmas Campaign

Interfaith Kids Against Hunger Campaign

Interfaith Whoop Up Days Pancake Breakfast

Kinsmen & Kinettes Tricks for Eats

Lethbridge Food Show

Lethbridge Bulls Strike Out Hunger

Lethbridge Community Band Mayor’s Concert

Lethbridge Herald Santa’s Little Helper

Lethbridge Hurricanes Teddy & Touque Toss

Lethbridge Public Library Food for Fines

Lethbridge Research Centre Food Banks Garden

Loblaw Extra Helping Food Drives

Logic Lumber Classic Car Show

Moonlight Run – Runner’s Soul

National Hunger Awareness Week

National Slow Pitch Association World Series

Save On Foods Help Hunger Disappear

Save On Foods Stuff A Bus

Sobeys Uplands Hop Into Easter Event

Sobeys Uplands Christmas in July

Sobeys Uplands Time for Sharing

Target Hunger City Wide Food Drive

Interfaith Food Bank continued our involvement as the

local charity to benefit from Mealshare, a registered

Non-Profit Society that works collaboratively with

partner restaurants allowing customers to provide a

meal for someone in need just by purchasing a meal of

their own while dining out. The buy one, give one

concept has taken off in many other larger centres, and

locally, we have 4 participating restaurants: Streatside

Eatery, Umami Shop, Two Guys & A Pizza Place and

Original Joe’s. The campaign raised over $4250 in

2015, and we continue to see funds raised through this

initiative.

The Second Door Thrift Store In addition to encouraging community participation in fund-

raising events and food drives, Interfaith Food Bank raises

funds through social enterprise: The Second Door Thrift

Store. The Second Door helps to turn non-food items into

funds that can be used for food and other program costs. We

use volunteers to man the store, sort and test appliances, and

display items for sale. Aside from being a fund-raising

initiative for Interfaith Food Bank, The Second Door Thrift

Store also offers the public, as well as families we serve, the

opportunity to purchase household items, gifts and other

products at affordable prices.

In 2015, we were able to raise over $31,000 from The Second Door Thrift Store to assist with funds required for

operational costs and food purchases. Sales in the thrift store are often due to the good quality and vast quantity

of new items, in addition to second hand items normally donated by community members. The majority of

these types of product are acquired through reclamation/liquidation processes, and in 2015 we were fortunate to

have received great quantities of cleaning products, hygiene products and seasonal goods such as Halloween and

Christmas decorations that boosted sales. We also continued some of the promotional sales established in 2014,

such as Grab Bag Sales and Buy One Get One offers.

PHYSICAL PLANT In addition to providing emergency food services, we have the responsibilty of providing a safe, clean

environment in which we conduct our business. Our staff and volunteers need to have appropriate tools and

equipment to complete their tasks, and maintaining our physical plant is a very necessary component of

managing the food bank:

We were very grateful to receive $7500 from the Community Foundation of Lethbridge and Southwestern

Alberta to purchase new warehouse hamper shelving, utility carts and stainless steel tables for our

workstations.

We completed an inventory and evaluation of our insurance coverage to ensure proper coverage for our

contents and building.

We partnered with the Downtown Lethbridge BRZ Clean Sweep Program to increase revenues realized

through our cardboard recycling program.

Food Stocks Thanks to the generosity of our community, we are pleased to report that we were able to meet the needs of the

additional families that accessed our Christmas programs, however, we finished the year with almost half of the

inventory we had on site at the beginning of the year. Thanks to the generosity from our community and

participation in food share programs, more than 800,000 pounds of food were accepted and distributed to

families in need – an average of almost 67,000 pounds per month.

Food stocks come from a

variety of sources, including

community donations and

food drives, and through our

participation in Food Share

Programs through the

Provincial and National Food

Bank Associations, as well as

through cooperation with

other area food banks.

In 2015, Interfaith Food Bank

spent over $101,000 on food

stocks and supplies for our

programs and services, while

$2,004,182 of in-kind

support was provided to

food bank clients.

Facility We were pleased again to avoid any renovations or major building improvements in 2015, but continued to

maintain our facility and to work to ensure a safe and welcoming environment for our programs and services.

We had a few HVAC repairs, did some painting to freshen up the vestibule, administration area and client

intake, and kept up with the regular maintenance of our major equipment such as the forklift, cardboard baler,

elevating lift, and walk-in coolers.

We bid farewell to West Wind Gymnastics in October as

they vacated the front half of our building in favor of a

larger location as they have increased their membership

and programming, and had been exploring options for

expanding their space for quite some time. We currently

have the space listed for lease through Avison Young and

will continue to explore our options for the use of the

space in 2016. At the end of their tenancy, we replaced

several broken windows, had the space commercially

cleaned and prepared for painting the space to tidy it up

after the many years that the tenants had occupied the

space.

Project Protein Lack of adequate protein has been identified by all food banks in

Southern Alberta. Meat is often expensive and donations of fresh or

frozen meat are rare. Food banks work to ensure families accessing

services are provided with adequate quantities of protein.

In 2014 we received approval and funding from the Community

Initiatives Program offered through Alberta Culture to develop a

Pilot Project that will encourage donors from the livestock industry

to donate animals for processing into ground beef and pork for food

bank families. We continued to work on this project through 2015,

and received approval for extension of the project until the end of

February 2016.

Our part-time project coordinator developed the program model and

communications plan for the pilot project, which we hope to pass

along to other communities upon completion. Project Protein

involved four participating abattoirs and 6 participating food banks.

MNP continued with the program as a Platinum Sponsor until

September, and we continue to recruit livestock donations and

financial contributions to help us sustain the program once the initial

grant funding is depleted.

Project Protein has increased the amount of meat coming into the food bank by means of donation. Through

2015, over 23,500 pounds of ground beef and pork had been received by participating food banks. We

processed 53 beef and 27 pork (for a total of 80 animals), and issued $105,660 in charitable tax receipts to

donors for Project Protein in 2015. The program will continue in 2016 with plans to expend all grant funding by

February 28, 2016.

Industry has been very supportive of the initiative, and we participated with many industry conferences,

conventions and trade shows. Promotional materials were developed, and we have been able to show success in

the program model – animals are being donated, processed and meat distributed to food banks, and tax receipts

are being generated to the producers for their donations. Donors chose which participating food bank would

benefit from their livestock donations, and each participating food bank will continue to receive ground meat

generated through the program.

Our focus has now turned to the sustainability of the program, and we will continue to explore funding options

to ensure future processing funds.

Interfaith Learning Garden We experienced our third growing season after building

the garden in 2013. We started seedlings inside in early

spring, hardened them off in the greenhouse and got plants

into beds at the end of May with help from a willing crew

from ATB Financial. We were able to get the majority of

the planting done in one day, and also built the new

pumpkin patch for our first shot at growing giant

pumpkins.

ADM Cares and Food Banks Canada Community Gardens

Fund provided support for biology, equipment, and

programming costs in addition to the support we received

from private sponsors and community donors. We are also

fortunate to have received great support from our local

gardening centres, almost all of whom provided discounts

and donations to our garden project. We are also very

pleased to have had the support of Lethbridge Sprinkler

Systems over the years, who expanded the automatic

watering system into our Found Objects Garden this year.

Primarily, learning opportunities in the garden are

provided to the participants of the Interfaith Chinook

Country Kitchen programs. Garden produce is grown for

use in our cooking classes as well as for distribution to

food bank clients. We also offer interested community

groups, schools and clubs the opportunity to visit the

garden as a learning experience.

Several groups signed out Learn & Grow Activity Totes which include curriculum-connected lesson plans,

materials, and tools necessary for educators and volunteers to lead interactive educational activities about water,

soil, insects, and many other garden topics. Activity Totes are a free resource, and can be used on-site at

Interfaith Learning Garden, or signed out to be used of-site.

We were able to expose many community members to our garden over the season, and hosted several

workshops and tours, and even participated with Art in The Park, where parents and preschoolers participated in

outdoor activities such as painting and drawing with sidewalk chalk. We celebrated National Garden Day,

included gardening activities as part of our annual Pancake Breakfast, and hosted two separate Movie in the

Garden events over the summer. We also offered outdoor cooking classes using our forno ovens and BBQs!

We are particularly proud of the two giant pumpkins we were able to grow for the Make A Wish Foundation

Pumpkin Festival at Greenhaven Garden Centre in the fall, the largest weighing 133 pounds!

Adult Kitchen Programs

THE INTERFAITH CHINOOK COUNTRY KITCHEN The Interfaith Chinook Country Kitchen (TICCK) is offered through a unique

partnership between Interfaith Food Bank Society of Lethbridge, and our local

Family Centre, which is a Parent Link Centre and a wealth of information for

parents/caregivers. Together, we have been providing free cooking sessions

intended to teach participants to cook healthy meals on a limited budget since

2005. Participants come for free, cook for free and take home the food they

make. Children of participants are cared for by an early childhood educator

while parents learn to cook under the guidance of a kitchen coordinator. We

also offer youth programming geared towards encouraging youth to acquire a

healthy relationship with food.

Kitchen programs benefit not only those who attend, but all of the residents of

that household, as the entire family gets to enjoy food prepared in cooking

classes. We also expose participants to the Interfaith Learning Garden, and

were able to incorporate outdoor cooking and garden activities into

programming this year as well.

Thanks to funding through the Mission: Kitchen Fund offered by Food

Banks Canada and Unilever, The Interfaith Chinook Country Kitchen On-

the Go was designed in 2015 to teach agency staff, teachers, day home

providers and group leaders to replicate TICCK kitchen programming

geared to their specific client base. The expanded program includes Train

the Trainer workshops that include a practical, hands on session and an

informative presentation on planning and preparing for programs. Once

participants have completed the two part workshop they are eligible to sign

out the On-The Go supplies for use at their own facilities or may make

arrangements for use of our kitchen on-sire. Workshops can be scheduled

to suit participant schedules, daytime, evening or weekend.

Through our partnership with Family Centre, we were also

able to expand the number of classes we offer for our

existing programs to include evening and weekend classes.

Participants have responded well to the new classes and

content, and we have been able to increase the number of

people attending cooking classes.

THANK YOU 2015 SPONSORS Formal sponsorships are a great way for local business and organizations to show their support for food bank

programs and services. We would like to thank all of our 2015 Sponsors, and hope they will continue their

support in years to come.

FUTURE GOALS AND PROJECTS

With renovations finally complete, and the development of the learning garden now finished, our Board of

Directors have already begun planning for future activities as we work to respond to the needs of our community

and to protect the assets we’ve built for Interfaith Food Bank.

Continued work on Strategic Plan We participated in Strategic Planning in 2013 and have identified several projects that we’ll be working on in

2014 – 2016, such as the development of an operational safety plan and further work on policy development.

We are also working now to identify strategies to work towards financial sustainability, such as enhancing our

donor recognition policies, planned giving program and legacy funding. As with all of our activities, we will

need to garner support from the community, recruit willing volunteers, and secure resources for our future goals

and projects. The plan will also be updated in 2016 as Directors review and assess our progress and identify our

goals for 2017-2019.

Expanded Kitchen Programs – Mobile Kitchen & Evening and Weekend Classes The success of The Interfaith Chinook County Kitchen Programs has resulted in many outside groups

expressing interest in using our kitchen. We will continue to recruit outside agencies, schools, groups and day

homes to participate with our Kitchen-On-The-Go and Train the Trainer Workshops with the hope of enabling

them to recreate our programming with their clientele. We will also continue to offer evening and weekend

classes, as well as to encourage other groups to use our facility for programming outside of our regular operating

hours to expose more community members to the benefits of cooking healthy foods on a limited budget.

Options for use of vacant facility space We will continue to explore potential partnerships and/or initiatives to make the best use of the space in our

facility that had previously been leased to West Wind Gymnastics. It is our goal to ensure that use of the space

fits well within our mandate, and also assists with offsetting our operational costs. The space will remain listed

for lease with Avison Young until such time as we determine the right use for the space and/or a suitable tenant.

Future Fund-raising Activities As always, we will need to recruit community support for both upcoming projects, and for daily operations. We

hope to develop new, exciting opportunities for fund-raising that keep our message forefront and fresh in the

eyes of our supporters.

SUMMARY 2015 was a year of change for Interfaith Food Bank as we responded to needs in our community linked to yet

another economic downturn. We are so fortunate to have a diversified economy in our city, and to have

weathered the storm a bit better than some other communities in Alberta where we saw unemployment take its

toll due to the continued fall in the price of oil. Alberta experienced the highest increase in food bank usage in

2015, and here at Interfaith, we started to see our numbers of families requesting assistance increase during the

last half of the year.

Like many charitable organizations struggling to raise sufficient funds to maintain programs and services, we

have adapted to include several new and creative fund-raising strategies. Throughout 2015, we were fortunate

to have had enough community support to provide for emergency food needs in our community.

Volunteers contributed almost 11,900 hours of service to governance, operational, administrative and fund-

raising activities this year — equivalent to more than 6.8 full-time positions! We are extremely grateful to our

supporters—be it through food, funds or free time—community efforts have allowed us to help 1500-1700

individuals each and every month, almost half of whom are children.

Our partnerships and cohesive working relationships with other community agencies also continue to be

essential to our success. We acknowledge that by working together, we can stretch our resources further and

limit duplication of services. We look forward to continuing our working relationship with Family Centre for

the continued operation of The Interfaith Chinook Country Kitchen; the many agencies involved with Ready Set

Go Back to School Fair for our 1st Day at School Program again in 2016; and with Lethbridge Food Bank and

Salvation Army for our annual Christmas Programs.

With 12,900 square feet of additional space now at our disposal, we will work to ensure that the use of our

facility best meets the needs of our organization, and ultimately the families we serve. We are excited to see

what the new year will bring for the use of the space previously leased to tenants. We are confident that these

changes will have long term benefits on our society, and to the families that we serve. We are also confident

that our community will continue to support our cause by hosting events, raising funds, and collecting food on

our behalf.

We are excited to see our kitchen and garden programs expanding to see more people learning about healthy,

nutritious foods and active lifestyles. Project Protein was successful in proving a model to recruit animals from

the livestock industries, and we are seeing more families accessing ground meat and ensuring proper protein in

their diets. Participation as a Good Food Organization will allow us to further develop our services to promote

dignity, constant learning and development, and a respectful environment where community members can come

together to learn about all things food.

It has been a real blessing to have accomplished so many major goals in such a short period of time. It is thanks

to a cohesive Board of Directors, our dedicated team of employees and generous spirit of our volunteers that

we’re able to do what we do. Creating a family of donors and volunteers, and maintaining strong relationships

with those that support us is essential for Interfaith Food Bank, and thanks to good planning and a lot of helping

hands, we’ve been able to make great progress in 2015, despite the economic climate, and we look forward to

continuing our work in 2016.

Thanks to all who made it happen, and who continue to join with us in our fight against hunger!

Respectfully Submitted,

Danielle McIntyre, Executive Director

Interfaith Food Bank Society of Lethbridge