>> Nada Saad & Mila Czemerys

With the leaves changing and the days getting shorter, it’s time to announce that the Gift of Good Food fundraiser is back—this year marks one decade of this fundraiser.

  • In the past nine years, this program has supported over 1,500 families and raised around $850,000 towards fresh food for families.
  • Our goal is to support 200 families in 2024 and raise $150,000 towards this campaign.
  • If we reach our fundraising goal, we will break $1,000,000 in donations given to this campaign since it’s start.

Here’s a refresher—the Gift of Good Food raises funds to support families in need across the Capital Region District by providing fresh fruits and vegetables for the entire year. This year, the campaign runs from November 14th until midnight on December 31st, 2023—we need your help!

The ongoing impacts of the pandemic, inflation, rising food costs, and the housing crisis in our city, are all squeezing vulnerable families and forcing hard choices about what they can afford to put on the table. We want to ensure we can continue to support these families by providing consistent access to fresh, high quality food.

A parent from last year’s program shared that, “[the Gift of Good Food] has helped me to feed my family. I don’t know how I would be able to feed my growing teenager and preteen without it.” Your donations, along with our partners, staff, and volunteers combined efforts, support families who are in need of consistent, healthy produce for their children.

We have partnered with community organizations across Greater Victoria to directly distribute fresh produce to the Gift of Good Food recipients through the Good Food Box program. The Good Food Box is a bulk buying food distribution program run by Fernwood NRG that packs and distributes bags of fresh produce from local farms and distributers.

There are lots of ways you can get involved and support this fundraiser:

  • You can donate directly by going to thegiftofgoodfood.ca/donate from November 14th until December 31st, 2023. All proceeds make a huge impact!
  • You can volunteer to support the campaign by distributing posters, dropping of donation request letters, picking up auction donations, and more! Email nada@fernwoodnrg.ca if you are interested in getting involved.
  • You can also create your own fundraising team with your friends, family, co-workers, or anyone you want to team up with! Each fundraising team chooses a fundraising goal that they want to achieve. Teams can also choose to support families in a specific neighbourhood or at a specific organization. If this sounds right up your alley, please register your team at fernwoodnrg.ca/ggf-fundraising-teams or email nada@fernwoodnrg.ca if you have any questions.
  • You can donate an item to our auction or create a fundraising initiative through your business.
  • You can spread the word on social media or share this fundraiser with friends, at work, over email, by megaphone! Whatever you like.

Make sure to keep an eye on our social media (@fernwoodnrg) for updates and more ways to get involved.