For four years, a local sports card store called ‘The Hobby Spot’ in Leduc has held its annual Hockey Cards for Food Donations drive. The local store is inviting everyone in the community to visit the store until December 14 during business hours and donate food to receive packs of hockey cards. The grand finale is scheduled for December 14, when The Leduc & District Food Bank Association will participate in selling cards. Visitors can donate directly to the food bank and receive a tax receipt for their hobby-related items.
Lucas Crisby, the owner of The Hobby Spot, launched this initiative in 2021 offering a pack of hockey cards in exchange for a food bank donation. “It started as a way to get our name out there and do something for the community,” says Crisby. The program began small but grew rapidly each year. In its first year, the store collected around $6,000 and 750 food items. By last year, donations had soared to over $22,000 and more than 10,000 food items, making Crisby proud to be part of such a meaningful effort.
“I’ve had friends who needed to visit the food bank over the years. It’s not always easy. Life has become much harder in 2023 and 2024. We’re thankful and lucky to be in a position to help and do our part”, says Crisby. This year, Crisby has set a goal of raising $50,000 and collecting 15,000 food items. He feels confident about reaching his goals as the team has already collected between 7,000 and 8,000 items physically in-house and expects around 4,000 or 5,000 more to come from the kids.
Five local kids’ sports teams have joined and are supporting the drive by going door-to-door in Leduc, Edmonton, Beaumont, and Devon to collect donations. The teams are competing to see who can gather the most and win, while each participating team will receive a prize. “Getting the younger generation involved is extremely important,” says Gert Reynar, the food bank’s executive director. “Showing them the difference they make in the community through a campaign like this is huge.”
In 2023, The Hobby Spot became the largest contributor to the Leduc Food Bank through its donation campaign. With demand surging, the food bank relies on donors like The Hobby Spot more than ever. “The economy is really difficult right now for our clients,” according to Gert Reynar. “In 20 years, I’ve never seen this level of need.” The Leduc Food Bank now serves between 275 and 300 people monthly, which Reynar describes as “quite a lot.” Between 40,000 to 50,000 pounds of food is sent out every month by the food bank while it works with local schools to run several other programs. The current donation drive runs until Dec. 14 and culminates at a final event at the store by the Leduc Food Bank and Hobby Spot.
Source: CTV News
