FAQs

We receive no ongoing funding for food purchases or programs from any level of government. We are fortunate to receive grants on occasion for a specific ask.

We encourage our donors to contribute in a way that is meaningful to them. Edmonton's Food Bank needs all three: food, funds and time from our volunteers.

Food is our foundation and is very tangible.

Money helps us with operating costs. It keeps the lights on and our doors open. We are fortunate to have significant bulk buying power to buy the food items we need most.

Your time is essential to our work. Volunteers allow us to double our work in the community. Our volunteers are our extended family.

Yes, please call our Resource Development team at 780.425.2133.

Please contact us to receive our 50/50 and Raffle tip sheet that identifies rules, requirements, and expectations to satisfy AGLC requirements.

Yes! We do our best to meet the needs of any client with religious or cultural dietary restrictions through our hamper programs. Another example is our close working relationship with the Islamic Family & Social Services Association (IFSSA). We provide relevant dry goods (lentils, pasta, canola oil, etc.) and IFSSA provides halal meats. We try to work collaboratively with as many groups as possible to provide food to people who are hungry in our community.

Donations of food from individuals may receive a tax receipt, if requested at the time of donation and if Edmonton Gleaners Association is provided with a third-party invoice, receipt, qualified appraisal, or similar documentation declaring the fair market value of the donated item (i.e. bill of lading) in addition to their full name and mailing address. The donor can only make their donation at the main warehouse (11508-120 Street). Tax receipts for gift-in-kind donations will be issued within 60 days of receipt of the item and appropriate documentation.

Donations of food from corporations will receive a letter confirming receipt and description of the item(s), but not a charitable tax receipt. It is Edmonton Gleaners Association’s understanding that companies may use this letter as documentation to write off the cost or a percentage of the cost of the product according to CRA policies and do not require an official charitable tax receipt to do so. The corporate donor is responsible to ask at the time of donation for the detailed letter which will be issued within 60 days of receipt of the goods.

We include as much fresh food as possible into our hampers, most of which is donated by our retail food partners and gardeners/farmers who take part in our Plant A Row, Grow A Row, Share a Row program. We ask you, the public, for help with key non-perishable food items which form the basis of our food hampers.

Yes, Edmonton Gleaners Association, more commonly known as Edmonton’s Food Bank, is a registered charity with Revenue Canada – charitable number 129 185 310 RR0001.

Edmonton Gleaners Association will generally provide an automatic tax receipt on the condition that the donor’s full name and mailing address are provided for monetary donations of $10 or more. On occasion, during specific campaigns, and clearly indicated on correspondence, Edmonton Gleaners Association reserves the right to ask for a minimum monetary donation of $20 or more to receive an automatic tax receipt on the condition that a full name and mailing address are provided (i.e. Gleanings Solicitations).

Donations of less than $10 will not receive a tax receipt.

Yes, but only at our main warehouse (11508-120 Street NW, Edmonton). We will accept fresh food donations like garden produce (i.e.: lettuce, potatoes, tomatoes, carrots) and frozen food donations like frozen meat or vegetables. Our main warehouse has a walk-in freezer and three walk-in coolers to help us with proper food storage. Donations can be dropped off between the hours of 8:30 am - 4:30 pm Mon-Fri. For evening or weekend drop offs, please contact us at 780-425-2133 to confirm our operating hours prior to your visit.

Because of our commitment to food safety, we cannot accept fresh or frozen food items donated at events. For example, a frozen turkey left in a Candy Cane Lane bin might not be noticed when it's picked up at 11 p.m. This turkey will be mixed in with the non-perishable items that will be sorted at a later date, which means the turkey would spoil and other food items would be contaminated.

Monetary donations are essential to cover our operating costs and food purchases. Each year, Edmonton’s Food Bank buys $2,000,000 worth of food to ensure hampers stay nutritionally balanced.

Like any individual or company, Edmonton's Food Bank pays for fuel, insurance, WCB, and the carbon tax. Your help getting food or monetary donations directly to us allows us to save costs. By saving money in this area, we can redirect funds to services.

We have a fleet of trucks on routes throughout the city picking up food from food industry partners on a regular basis. When a call comes in from a private food collection (i.e. business, club, special event, school etc.), to save on costs, your pick-up is finessed within these existing routes. We ask for different lengths of time to pick up the food (i.e. 3 days in the quiet season and up to 7 days in the busy season like Christmas), to make pick up achievable for our drivers. This process improves efficiency for the organization and helps reduce our carbon footprint.

You can turn your vehicle donation into generous dollars to support Edmonton's Food Bank! Working on our behalf, both Donate a Car Canada and/or Homeless Cars will accept your vehicle for donation -- running, or not! Old or new!

There is no cost to you, and the process is incredibly easy! Both organizations will facilitate all aspects of your car donation from the pick up to the final sale, ensuring that your vehicle will be sold for the highest sale outcome possible. They will then forward the net proceeds on to us here at Edmonton's Food Bank and you will receive a tax deductible receipt within 2 weeks of us receiving your donation!

A world of opportunities will lie before you as a volunteer at Edmonton's Food Bank. On any given shift in the warehouse, there will be cleaning, sorting food, building hampers, re-packing foods, and serving clients. The next time you come, it can all change again!

Click here for more details about the volunteer work you can do.

Warehouse volunteers must be at least 14 years old. From time to time there are special events that can accommodate children under 14 if they are accompanied by an adult. Please call our Volunteer Coordinator at 780.425.2133 ext. 227 for more information.

We can accommodate groups of up to 15 people if you would like to get your co-workers, team, or family together to lend a hand! Larger groups are accepted during the busier times of the year.

For special circumstances and if we're able to plan well ahead, we can accommodate larger groups. This is most likely to work out when we have lots of food to sort such as in December, January & February. To book a large group, please contact the Volunteer Coordinator at 780.425.2133 ext. 227.

If there are changes to your group size, please call us before you come in. We would like to ensure that everyone's experience at Edmonton's Food Bank is fulfilling. There are times when multiple large groups are booked at the same time and if each bring in extra people it would cause problems. Please call the Volunteer Coordinator at 780.425.2133 ext. 227 to check space availability.