The organization that helps supply Alberta’s 112 food banks says it is in critical need of corporate donations. Each month, community food banks across the province submit orders to Food Banks Alberta, which then ships supplies from its warehouse in Leduc. According to executive director Darryl Burry, the association shipped nearly 90 per cent of its total 2025 volume – 1.5 kilograms of food – in the first six months of 2026. The increase in need, as well as fewer donations in August, has left the food bank short about one month of food when the order portal opens Tuesday. “This is the first time that we’ve encountered this level of scarcity within our warehouse and so it’s going to become a huge challenge as food banks want to make their orders and we simply don’t have the product,” Burry told CTV News Edmonton on Monday. He said food banks’ busiest months are still ahead, and noted many community banks are in the same position. Burry encouraged members of the public to donate to their local food bank, and for corporations – such as manufacturers, producers, processes, distributors and retailers – to consider donating pallets of food product to the provincial association. The warehouse currently has room for about 350 pallets, which is what the association roughly distributes in a quarter. However, Burry expects supplies to continue to go quicker. “In the 2025 hunger count, there were over 210,000 people (in Alberta) every month that use a food bank. We know that number has grown… and we’ll see that reflected in the 2026 numbers when they’re released in October,” he said. In 2025, one third of visits to Alberta’s food bank were for children. With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Evan Klippenstein
