Food is changing at the Women's Centre of Calgary. Here's all you need to know
The Women’s Centre’s mission is to be every woman’s place for support, connection and community. As we begin to reconnect after a 3-year pandemic, our Centre is reinvigorating our community-building roots. When we examined our emergency food distribution, the question we asked ourselves was how can food help build community?
In response to this question, the Women’s Centre of Calgary is phasing out emergency food hamper distribution beginning March 30, 2023.
We know that emergency food hampers are often not meeting the nutritional needs of our community, can be unreliable, and are rarely activating a sense of community in our space.Â
By phasing out our emergency hampers, we create room for more effective and sustainable ways for women to connect around food and bring new life to our mission.
What Happens Now?
The Women’s Centre acknowledges that food insecurity is an urgent and dire need in our community, and food will always be available for women in our Centre. Moving forward, we will be building community through food in the following ways:
- Hosting creative programming for community to learn, cook, and eat together at the Centre
- Continuing to act as a referring partner and satellite depot for the Calgary Food Bank
- Providing more reliable and nutritious foods in our gathering area
- Hosting a 24/7 outdoor community pantry in partnership with Hatch YYC and an indoor refrigerated community food pantry accessible during the Centre’s open hours
- Building partnerships with other community agencies centred around food
- Engaging in more systems-change work for improved food security
Get Involved
Here are some ways to get involved in the Women’s Centre’s food initiatives:
- Join our Garden Club or our Social Issues Committee
- Organize friends or colleagues to restock our community pantries
- Check our Events Calendar to keep updated on upcoming food programs and events
- Donate funds towards our food initiatives
- Facilitate a food-related workshop!
We’d love to hear from you – please share your ideas with us on how to build community around food.
To find out where to access other emergency-food resources in Calgary, please visit:
Is the garden club free or is there a fee? And does it have to be only for people in certain communities? I live in Eastvillage was in Bridgeland.
Hi Marilyn,
Our garden club is free to all community members. Please email RSVP@womenscentrecalgary.org or call us at (403)264-1155 to express your interest in joining our garden club. We can’t wait to have you!