Extras from the garden this year? AMA wants to donate them to Edmonton’s Food Bank

The Alberta Motor Association is collecting garden produce for Edmonton's Food Bank. CTV News Edmonton's Miriam Valdes-Carletti has the details.

Alberta Motor Association (AMA) is asking local gardeners to consider donating their extra homegrown goods to Edmonton’s food banks with a drive hosted from Thursday until Oct. 13 through its Harvesting Hope program.

This year, they’re taking a newer approach to make sure everyone can grow produce if they want.

“We started providing seeds in the spring so they can plant vegetables … maintain it, and still participate in a meaningful way,” Robyn Couture, AMA’s manager of community programs said in an interview Wednesday.

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Between September and October of each year, people can visit any AMA centre in the province to pick up a free burlap bag.

Root vegetables like onions, beets and potatoes that you can bear to part with can go in the bag – preferably brushed, not washed, so they last longer.

Bags of veggies brought to any AMA centre by Thanksgiving weekend will be brought to your local food bank.

“We’ve been around for 100 years. It’s a car club that was started by Albertans,” she said. “We’re here to support our community members.”

Thursday’s donation drive for Harvesting Hope was held at the company’s rooftop garden at the AMA’s Edmonton South centre.

The garden is a partnership with urban farming company MicroHabitat.

This year’s harvest is expected to reap around 300 lbs of vegetables throughout the year, while Couture said through extra donations they hope to raise 50,000 lbs of food and around 500 lbs of vegetables this year.

Edmonton Food Bank partnership manager Tamisan Bencz-Knight said you can’t spell “amazing” without “AMA.”

“As an organization, we rely on food, funds and friends, and sometimes food can be a little out of reach for some people. True food security means we can plant and grow our own food locally, too,” she said on Thursday.

Having access to AMA’s rooftop garden, she added, is a model that encourages sustainability and sharing.

She also noted that access to freshly-grown food is something food banks don’t always get. About 67 per cent of produce Edmonton’s Food Bank supplies is gleaned, meaning it’s fresh but typically a little over shipment and supply dates.

“When you get food from somebody’s garden, that carrot pulled right out of the ground is so sweet and delicious,” she said.

The Edmonton Food Bank also doesn’t receive government funding for programs and services, meaning the generosity of anyone who can afford to grow something through the AMA or otherwise is always appreciated, Bencz-Knight said.

More information on how to get involved can be found on both the Edmonton Food Bank’s and AMA’s websites.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Miriam Valdes-Carletti