Interfaith breakfast fuels Whoop-Up Days spirit

By Alexandra Noad - Lethbridge Herald Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on August 21, 2024.

Herald photo by Alexandra Noad Staff and volunteers serve up a pancake breakfast before the Whoop-Up Days parade on Tuesday during the 16th annual Interfaith Foodbank pancake breakfast.

The Interfaith Food Bank fueled community members with their 16th annual pancake breakfast.

The three-dollar breakfast consisted of pancakes, eggs, sausage patties, beans, fresh fruit, beans and of course juice and coffee.

One community member commented saying the Interfaith Food Bank hosts the best breakfast of Whoop-Up Days.

“Where else can you get pancakes, eggs and of course beans” they said.

Danielle McIntyre, executive director of the Interfaith Food Bank Society of Lethbridge, says the pancake breakfast is something they look forward to every year to bring everyone together while providing healthy options.

“This is something that we look forward to every year. Having our breakfast on parade day is really fantastic for us because it gives us the opportunity to showcase our kitchens and get people down to the food bank to see a little bit more about what we do than just cans in and out. One of the things we love about this breakfast is that they have healthy options,” said McIntyre.

Some of Interfaith Food Bank’s goals are promoting healthy eating even while on a budget as well as bringing awareness about food security.

“Food security is such a big issue, especially right now with so many people struggling to buy their groceries. But we operate off more of a holistic in the sense of garbage in, garbage out all around. So, if we can empower the families that we’re serving to eat well, then we give them an extra step up to get back on their feet,” said McIntyre.

According to a study done by Statistics Canada in 2022, 18 per cent of families experienced food insecurity that year and Alberta had the highest percentage at 22 per cent.

McIntyre believes it is a community effort to help with food security issues.

“The other thing with food security is (it’s) something that everybody experiences so doing breakfast like this, where we’re engaging the entire community instead of just the families that we’re serving, shows how a community effort can actually help to address those issues,” said McIntyre.

The breakfast proceeds went towards emergency food services for the community and the various programs the Interfaith Foodbank offers.

More information about the programs the Interfaith Foodbank offers can be found at http://www.interfaithfoodbank.com