About the Calgary Food Bank

Community Gardens

Community gardens help to provide fresh produce to our clients. When we can give food that is healthy, it is not just a gift for an empty tummy, it tells someone they matter.

Community gardens

Fresh from the heart

Food connects us as a community and builds each other up in times of need. Nothing is more true than Calgarians who, every year, come together to grow vegetables for their neighbours in need. Some are private and public community gardens, and others are organized volunteer efforts exclusively for the Food Bank. Large or small, every donation from a garden makes an incredible impact. When we can add fresh produce to a family or individual’s hamper, we are helping to build their resiliency. It is critical to eat well when you are in crisis, so when we can give fresh garden vegetables it tells someone they matter. This shows them we want them to get out of the circumstances they are in by providing them with the best food possible. Did you know you can donate produce from your garden?

We are thankful to be one of the recipients of the +Fresh Gardens and Growing Fund through Food Banks Canada. Thanks to the generous support of Compass Group Canada and Bayer Inc., 39 food banks from 7 provinces have been provided funding. This fund provides for organizations that have existing gardens, those who wish to establish a garden, or growing program to increase access to fresh food. The Calgary Food Bank was provided $1,300 through the fund, which was used to purchase seeds and compost for our community gardens.

started in 1999

TransAlta POWER Garden

The acronym stands for Projects Organized with Energetic Retirees, but POWER is an understatement for these dedicated TransAlta pensioners. Since 1999, more than 60 passionate volunteers have tended the .55 hectar parcel that grows vegetables for the sole purpose of donating them to the Food Bank. John Holmes, a full time volunteer with TransAlta’s POWER Garden, says farming is in his blood so he was instantly drawn to the idea of urban and community gardening.

“I think it’s watching things grow. You nurture them, you pull out the bad weeds and it’s all about this, the feeling of pride and satisfaction from gardening is multiplied” Holmes says, from the added element of donating the food. “When you say it’s a charity garden for the food bank people just open their doors. We lease this land for a dollar a year, which we’ve never paid, and (farmers) load up trucks with the best seeds.”

The POWER Garden was relocated in 2019 to an area West of the Janet substation. Onions, spaghetti squash, zucchini, beets, potatoes, kolrobi, radishes and carrots were planted in the new garden. Volunteers did not hold much hope of success as the soil was rock and clay. However, timely rains throughout the growing season and an application of rich compost supplied by Eagle Lake Landscapers enabled the beets and carrots to thrive.

The amazing 2019 crop will not only be remembered as the first crop in the ‘new’ POWER Garden site, but also as the 20th consecutive POWER Garden crop! This year’s harvest puts the total pounds of fresh produce donated over the years to 407,670 pounds!

Acres of Land

1.35

volunteers

60

pounds of donated food

12,216

Thank You

Our Supporters

It takes a village to raise a garden, and we are so thankful to have the support of organizations in Calgary that discount or donate goods and services. Thank you to all our supporters who are helping grow the TransAlta Power garden.

started in 2016

Feed The Hungry

Feed the Hungry community garden is a program with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Calgary. Every Sunday a healthy, high-quality meal in a friendly atmosphere of safety, respect and family is served to approximately 500 homeless and marginalized Calgarians. In 2017, they planted a large plot just outside the City Limits east of Calgary, and harvested potatoes to serve for their weekly dinners. And now the garden has grown to three plots in Calgary and Cochrane.

Each week volunteers harvest the garden for their weekly dinners, donating their extra bounty to the Calgary Food Bank. Feed the Hungry is a great example of collaboration, they work closely with the TransAlta Power garden group sharing tools, volunteers and experiences. In addition, their clients helped harvest almost 4,000 pounds of produce from this garden in 2018. That’s quality fresh food that went into Calgary Food Bank hampers for families and individuals in need!