A crowdfunding campaign has raised at least $105,000 for St. Albert’s food bank.
The St. Albert philanthropic group T8N 100 Men wrapped up its food bank fundraising challenge on Oct. 15.
T8N 100 Men is a group of St. Albert philanthropists that meets four times a year, hears presentations from charitable and non-profit groups, and decides which to support. Each member then commits at least $100 to the selected groups, with many chipping in more.
The group issued a public challenge to St. Albert residents on Sept. 19 to raise $40,000 for the St. Albert Food Bank by Oct. 15 — $20,000 from the community and $20,000 in matching dollars from the group.
The campaign smashed through that goal within a week and by Oct. 10 was closing in on $90,000.
While they won’t know the official total until next week (as some donations were likely still in the mail), T8N 100 Men spokesperson John Farlinger said that as of 10:57 a.m. Oct. 15 the campaign had raised some $104,809.59 — roughly $50,396 from T8N and $54,412 from the community. He projected a grand total of about $110,000, which would be in the same ballpark as the $127,000 raised in 2022 and the $139,000 collected in 2020.
Farlinger said this is particularly impressive as this campaign came on the heels of the food bank’s fall food drive, which saw St. Albert muster some 67,000 pounds of food for the organization.
“Our guys were extremely generous, and the community was equally generous.”
Farlinger thanked the city for its overwhelming generosity, but also noted the food bank still needs support — it sends out some 73,000 pounds of food every month.
“The need is continuing to grow,” he said, and many former food bank donors have become its clients as of late because of financial hardship.
St. Albert Food Bank officials were unavailable for comment when this story went to press.
Donations to the food bank can be made anytime at bins throughout St. Albert and online at stalbertfoodbankandcommunityvillage.com/support-us/funds.
