Behind the scenes at iCAN

May 6, 2025

Big things happen in small spaces! From a 20,000 sq. ft. warehouse of food to a tiny corner office in Calgary, we’ve transformed how thousands of food-insecure children and families access healthy food—one grocery gift card at a time.

It’s a simple shift with powerful results: less overhead means more support goes directly to families—empowering them with dignity, autonomy, and the freedom to choose what’s right for them.

Take a peek behind the scenes with Sutton as she tours the iCAN office, shares a bit of our story, and shows how a small but mighty space is helping to fuel healthy futures for kids across Alberta

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More Alberta kids than ever are growing up in food-insecure homes 

More Alberta kids than ever are growing up in food-insecure homes 

A food insecurity crisis is gripping Alberta. New data released by Statistics Canada in May show a staggering 1.46 million Albertans now live in food-insecure households – they don’t have enough income to put food on the table, every meal, every day. This means that nearly 2 in 5 kids in Alberta are growing up without reliable access to enough healthy food, up from 1 in 5 just a few years ago. 

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The grocery gift card approach gains momentum and credibility

The grocery gift card approach gains momentum and credibility

Like everybody else, those of us at I Can for Kids (iCAN) recognize the comfort and security of traditions. Familiar practices feel easy, safe, and reassuring. Yet there are major risks if our society relies blindly on the comfort of longstanding approaches to major social and health issues. When it comes to empowering households who lack the income to buy enough food, iCAN realized how more than forty years of traditional food programming had fallen significantly short. That’s why in 2020, we took advantage of the global pandemic to implement and study a rapid and innovative change to our response to food insecurity. 

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Fuel healthy futures with Save-On-Foods

Fuel healthy futures with Save-On-Foods

Our 11th annual fundraising campaign with Save-On-Foods is officially underway! All month long, when you donate in-store or online, Save-On-Foods will match the first $10,000 raised, doubling your impact.

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