Community responds to annual food drive

For two decades, students at St. Joseph High School have been going door-to-door on All Hallows’ Eve collecting non-perishable food for the Saskatoon Food Bank & Learning Centre. 

In recent years, students at Bishop James Mahoney High School (BJM), and other GSCS schools, have joined the Halloweening for Hunger food drive. The two schools have collected a cumulative total of almost 250,000 pounds (about 113,400 kg) of food, including this year’s 29,575 pounds (13,415 kg).

This year, about 500 St. Joseph and BJM students delivered flyers to residents in pre-determined routes notifying them of the food drive. On October 30 and 31, they went back to collect the food. 

Shelby Anderson, communications and event coordinator at Saskatoon Foodbank & Learning Centre, said that about 24,000 individuals get much-needed food from the food bank every month, of whom about 40 per cent are children or youth under the age of 18.

According to Saskatoon Food Bank & Learning Centre, Food Banks Canada values food in 2026 at $3.71 per pound. Based on this calculation, Halloweening for Hunger raised $109,724.25 worth of food.

“It’s a good feeling knowing someone will have a meal because of what we’re doing,” said Alex Hill, a Grade 12 student at BJM, who started helping with the food drive in Grade 9.

Olivya Harding, also a Grade 12 student at BJM said she felt “fortunate that we can do this” and that most residents are happy to go to their cupboard to get food to help those in need.

Special thanks to Rosenau GLS Transport who provided their services to pick up the food donations at the schools.