The COVID-19 pandemic forced many families to turn to the Regina Food Bank for support.

Last year the Regina Food Bank experienced a record breaking year in usage and this year they are trending towards breaking that record. CEO of the Regina Food Bank John Bailey says in 2020 there were 114,000 points of service and they’re trending towards of breaking that record this year.

To help stock up the shelves once again, the Food Bank along with Mosaic are teaming up for the Mosaic Million Meal Challenge throughout October.

Bailey says the food bank is very dependent on fundraisers like the Million Meal Challenge. “A lot of the folks that never saw themselves as needing to turning to the food bank for support because of a lot factors with lockdown, layoffs we became a need and we wanted to make sure that we were there for them and to support the community we’ve been able to meet that need in ways we couldn’t conceive a couple of years ago.”

To help kick off the campaign, Mosaic will be making a donation of 150,000 meals. Bailey says that the donation from Mosaic is a great start but more help will be needed. “We always want to make sure that we’re setting ambitious goals. Quite frankly our level of ambition would not be possible without the Mosaic company.” Bailey added “For us it’s pivotal and it’s a great start but we have a long way to go and we’re going to continue to turn to the city to support us and with confidence we know that they will because they have always stepped up for us in the past.”

Last year the Million Mile Challenge was able to raise 1.4 million meals.