Calgary sets a new single city record!

Gearing up for the home stretch, we reached Calgary and knew that Calgarians only had one thing in mind, winning the battle of Alberta and raising more food than Edmonton. Taking over the plaza outside Eau Claire, Calgary was ready post-Stampede to grab their hockey sticks and take to the street for hunger!

With the goal of 100,000 lbs of food looming in the distance and the trip’s biggest games ahead, it was time to put a dent in the remaining total. Joined by the Calgary Flames Street Squad, the Calgary Stampeders cheer team, a host of players and out of town friends like Justin Kripps, it was time for some magic in the Stampede City. As the totals came in, the money was dropped off and the food collected we received an anonymous donation that went straight to the food bank which had us very excited.

Joined by a few Calgary Hitmen players, game 10 of 13 was shaping up nicely. London Drugs’ team was out in full force with smiles on their faces, excited to be back in the action. Hockey Calgary was on site, and the kids were having a blast. Taking out swag shootout to another level, we had a chance to give away a signed Flames jersey as well as some other gear and Calgary was dropping off food by the bushel.

When all was said and done, Calgary put forward quite the effort. They wanted to win the Battle of Alberta before we had even made it to Edmonton. After last year’s tour the single city record for food raised was 9,400 lbs of food set by Vancouver in the final day of the tour. We haven’t seen many cities challenge that but had Saint John but up very respectable numbers this year, and other cities starting to challenge Vancouver for that title. When all was said and done though, Calgary brought in the equivalent of a whopping 27,000 lbs of food thanks to the contributions of the community, our partners and that incredibly generous anonymous donation.

At nearly triple what Vancouver has ever raised, we’re off to Edmonton with the pressure on Vancouver to step up if they want to reclaim their title of most food raised on the tour!