Since its inception in the 1980s, the Airdrie Food Bank (AFB) has grown alongside the city's rapidly increasing population. The AFB is currently supporting 700 families weekly.
This growth has strained the current facility, resulting in space constraints that limit the efficient storage, sorting, and distribution of food and the safety and coordination of volunteers. To meet these challenges, AFB has acquired an off-site storage facility—the AFB Annex.
This expansion will relieve pressure on the main location, improve operational efficiency, and allow for greater community engagement, while maintaining the convenience and accessibility of the main site for clients.
The AFB has experienced a significant increase in demand, which has impacted our current facility. Since 2014, when our current facility was opened, the city's population has increased significantly, and we now serve over 88,000 people.
To meet this growing need, we are expanding which will enable us to store, organize, and distribute food more efficiently, ensuring we can better serve our community.
The AFB Annex will allow us to continue providing essential food support helping to build a stronger community.
The new AFB Annex will significantly impact the Airdrie Food Bank's operations by expanding our capacity to host corporate and community volunteer groups, strengthen community connections, and improve food distribution efficiency. With the additional space for sorting and storing donations, our 300+ volunteers can work more efficiently, allowing us to better serve those in need. This facility will help us provide more reliable and timely assistance, reinforcing our mission to a community where no one is hungry.
The AFB Annex will also expand our capacity to store and recover more food, enabling more efficient distribution to families in Airdrie and surrounding areas. By increasing volunteer opportunities and improving operational safety, the Annex supports greater community involvement, sustainability, and resilience in addressing food insecurity.
No, the main food bank location will remain operational, ensuring clients can continue accessing services at the familiar location. The annex enhances operations behind the scenes without affecting the client-facing experience.
The AFB Annex will significantly alleviate the overcrowded conditions at our main facility. By providing much-needed storage for increased food donations, this annex will allow us to better manage our growing inventory. As a result, we can handle larger volumes of food more efficiently and ensure that those in need within our community receive timely and adequate support. This improvement not only enhances our operational capacity but also strengthens our ability to build a more resilient and well-supported community.
We have accessed existing capital funds for expansion and are applying for relevant grants and funding that will support our investment in the community, ensuring we can finance the new facility responsibly. If you'd like to donate to the AFB Annex Project, we've created an AFB Annex fund on our website where you can make contributions online.
Relocating the main facility would involve complex logistical challenges, such as rezoning and establishing new transportation routes for clients. Instead, the annex enables us to maintain our existing, accessible main facility while addressing our space issues.
This solution ensures continuous, uninterrupted service and greater convenience for our clients, as they can continue to rely on the familiar location for their needs. The annex allows us to manage inventory more effectively, ensuring a steady supply of food and resources for those in need, ultimately helping us build a stronger community.
Owning our own building allows the AFB to eliminate leasing expenses, which gives us greater control over our space and leads to significant long-term financial savings. These savings enable us to invest more directly into our programs and services, helping us to better meet the growing needs of the community. By reducing overhead costs, we can allocate more resources to collecting and distributing food to those in need, ultimately building a stronger, more resilient community.
The new facility has been made possible through previously allocated capital expansion funds and grants. Our strategic financial planning has allowed us to allocate these funds effectively to meet community demands. If you'd like to donate to the AFB Annex Project, we've created an AFB Annex fund on our website where you can make contributions online.
While the allocated funds will not cover the entire cost of the new facility, eliminating leasing expenses at our current off-site location and securing additional government grants will help maintain stable cash flow. The financing of this acquisition will be structured to ensure that it does not impact our ability to deliver on our mission. Transitioning to the new facility will allow the Airdrie Food Bank to streamline operations, increase storage capacity, and provide better services to those in need. This move is aimed at enhancing our efficiency and strengthening our commitment to building a stronger community through consistent and reliable food assistance.
We will encourage our community to support the project through giving on our Canada Helps page and we will reach out to our corporate community to assist us.
If you'd like to donate to the AFB Annex Project, we've created an AFB Annex fund on our website where you can make contributions online.
No, the financing strategy is designed to ensure that our mission remains unaffected. We are committed to maintaining our service delivery and expanding our capabilities without compromising our operational effectiveness.
By supporting our AFB Annex, you help ensure we have the resources and space to continue meeting the growing needs of Airdrie families and others in the region. If you'd like to donate to the AFB Annex Project, we've created an AFB Annex fund on our website where you can make contributions online.
Additionally, you can donate in person at the AFB using Credit, Debit, Cheque, Cash or through e-transfer to info@airdriefoodbank.com. Your contributions are vital in helping us build a stronger community by ensuring we can continue to collect and distribute food to those in need.
The new annex will significantly enhance our food recovery efforts by providing essential space to manage the large volume of food donations we receive from local businesses, farmers, grocery stores, and community gardens. It will allow us to say “YES!” to large donations that we are unable to currently accept.
With this additional space, we anticipate recovering more food, which means we can reduce food waste more effectively. This improvement not only helps in minimizing waste but also ensures that we support more individuals and families with nutritious food, reinforcing our mission to build a stronger community through shared resources.
The Airdrie Food Bank is dedicated to building a stronger community by collecting food for those in need. As part of our commitment to food security, we partner with Food Banks Alberta to support 15 other food banks across the province by being a “hub”.
This collaboration enables us to share resources and maximize our collective impact. Additionally, the new AFB Annex significantly enhances our ability to store and distribute more food to these partner organizations, ensuring a more reliable food supply and contributing to food security across Alberta.
This collective effort helps us provide better support and more consistent access to food for vulnerable populations throughout the province.
The Airdrie Food Bank supports environmental sustainability by recovering consumable food that would otherwise go to waste. This effort significantly reduces our community’s environmental footprint. Last year alone, we recovered 1.3 million lbs of food from community partners and farmers, preventing it from being discarded and contributing to a more sustainable future.