“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well,

if one has not dined well.”

– Virginia Woolf

Food insecurity - the inability to access sufficient, quality food - is something anyone can find themselves facing. A Statistics Canada study released in March 2021 reports that: "In 2018, Canadians who had been the victim of...an act of physical violence (e.g., assault) over the two previous years were three times more likely to be food insecure than those who had not." For Sonshine's residential clients, food insecurity is potentially another broken piece of the puzzle we support them in putting back together.

In order to address concerns of food security, we offer a variety of fresh produce and bread to our clients every Tuesday. These donations come from our generous supporters at YYC Growers & Distributors and Shirley's Greenhouse. In addition to this, Centre Street Church provides Sonshine with prepared meals for our clients every Thursday. A designated donation from Rotary Club of Calgary Heritage Park means that we're also able to purchase a healthy protein, milk, and eggs for clients each month to help fill in the gaps.

Thanks to donors like you, Sonshine can also actively address food concerns for our clients by maintaining an emergency pantry we have affectionately named "Blessingdales". Blessingdales is stocked with nonperishable food and hygiene essentials donated by individuals, churches, school groups, businesses, and other Sonshine supporters. The pantry is accessed by our residents as needed, and as you can imagine, requires frequent re-stocking.

Will you help us keep the shelves of Blessingdales full? Donating grocery gift cards is the easiest way to help. Gift cards can be mailed to our PO Box (34067 RPO Westbrook Calgary, AB T3C 3W2), or purchase e-cards and email them to us at donation@sonshine.ca.

Check out this video of Sonshine's food programs in action!