Yesterday (June 20), the Airdrie Food Bank welcomed delegates from across the country to tour their facility.

Almost one hundred food bank workers from around Canada, in town for the National Food Banks Conference which is being held in Calgary until June 22, traveled up the QE2 to learn about the programs and facilities we have here.

General Manager, Quinn Donaldson said it was amazing to play such a key part in the conference, and to have people from all over see what they are doing.

"It's always nice when you can connect with other food banks, hear how other people do it and share what you do. We have an amazing community here, so it's always nice to show it off and highlight what's working, hear what's working for other food banks and really strengthen some of those networks and build those connections."

The tour included a presentation on the history of the current facility, a run-down of how food is collected, stored and distributed, as well as information on programs like Snack Attack and the Airdrie Rotary Community Kitchen. Mayor Peter Brown, MLA Angela Pitt and Board President Kent Rupert were also on hand to offer greetings to the delegates.

Donaldson said a highlight of the day was the exchange of ideas.

"It was just being able to talk to different people and explain to them how things work for us and hear how they do things. So many new ideas, and we're energized to continue to offer great supports to our community."

Christina Rupp of Squamish, B.C., said after the tour, she is going home with plenty of new ideas.

"I'm in a similar sized warehouse that's very, very old where we operate our food bank in Squamish, and we're hoping to move in the next three or four years, so this has given me a huge amount of information as to what we can look forward to or how we can go about doing that."

The Airdrie Food Bank is also nominated for an award at this year's conference, and Donaldson said they won't know if they've won until the awards banquet this evening.

 

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