By Bobbi Turko, Co-Founder and Executive Director, I Can for Kids Foundation
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Through my work tackling the food insecurity crisis in Calgary, I collaborate with numerous front-line agencies that support families who simply don’t have enough income to put adequate food on the table at every meal.
I regularly hear the experiences of people living with food insecurity – I believe that we can and must offer more effective ways to make food more accessible to them.
For example, Susanna Shenfield, a housing support specialist at Calgary Housing (CH), shared this experience:
Susanna was just wrapping up a long workday when she received a call from a mother in crisis.
The mother’s newborn baby had been repeatedly hospitalized. She had used the last of her money paying for taxis to and from the hospital. She was in desperate need of essential items for the baby, and still required food, medication, and basic supplies for her other children. As a resident in Calgary Housing, she turned to the organization for support.
“There was no way we could scramble to find her support through other community partners in a timely manner,” Susanna explained. “Many organizations don’t respond quickly. Most community agencies need certain client information before they can do a referral for food. Some food programs need a few days or even weeks before they can respond to a referral. It can be an exhausting exercise.
However, as CH is a partner with I Can for Kids Foundation, Susanna was able to offer immediate support in a time of crisis through grocery gift cards. “I was able to help her within 20 minutes. It was such a relief for both of us. And she could even send a family member or friend to pick up what she needed while she stayed with the other children.”
This story is not unique. Nearly 1 in 3 people in Alberta are experiencing some degree of food insecurity. Whether it’s a short-term crisis or a long-term struggle, these families face many barriers to accessing support from traditional food programs. Time-consuming referral processes. Invasive questionnaires. Challenges getting to and from food distribution locations on a bus or in a taxi. And feelings of embarrassment.
Yet there is a grocery store right down the street offering everything they need to plan, purchase and provide regular, healthy meals for their children. We need to empower families to access what’s already available in their community.
Grocery gift cards improve access, freedom, and choice
Multiple systematic reviews of research studies have found that traditional food-based interventions fail to reduce food insecurity, while income supplementation for low-income households has a positive effect.
I Can for Kids (iCAN) provides a particular type of targeted income supplement – grocery gift cards – delivered through a network of partner agencies that are already providing other services to low-income families.
We have done our homework, conducting research with the University of Calgary and the O’Brien Institute for Public Health to study this approach. The results are compelling.
First and foremost, grocery gift cards quickly and directly address the underlying financial strain that blocks vulnerable families from accessing enough healthy food. They also improve access to food in many other ways that traditional food programs do not – just through shopping in the local grocery store.
iCAN’s program evaluations and recipient interviews show that families receiving grocery gift cards value the freedom, and choice the cards provide. They can:
- Access convenient grocery store locations near their workplace, their children’s school, or along their usual transit route
- Access grocery delivery when they face barriers related to transportation, cold weather, poor health, or mobility issues and disabilities
- Access stores with the best prices, sales, and promotions to extend their budgets
- Access an unlimited selection of foods including fresh fruits and vegetables, high-quality proteins, and foods that reflect their culture, dietary needs and preferences
- Access private and discreet support – with no embarrassment or stigma
From a funding and program delivery perspective, the model is also very efficient. There is no need for costly warehouses, complex logistics, extensive staff and volunteers, or waste. Donors make contributions that go directly to the groceries families need.
When we put ourselves in the shoes of people experiencing food insecurity, we find that grocery stores are the best place for groceries. It’s an incredibly simple concept that transforms the way we deliver support – with dignity, freedom and choice.
References:
- Food-based interventions to mitigate household food insecurity in Canada: a systematic review (Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention in Canada: 45(9), 2025 September)
- Public policy interventions to mitigate household food insecurity in Canada: a systematic review (Public Health Nutrition: 27(e83), 2024 January 4)
- Experiences and perceived outcomes of a grocery gift card programme for households at risk of food insecurity (Public Health Nutrition: 26(11) 2023 August 2)
- Statistics Canada. Table 13-10-0835-01 Food insecurity by selected demographic characteristics (2025 May 1)
About I Can for Kids Foundation
I Can for Kids works closely with multiple agency partners to target and distribute grocery gift cards to food-insecure families in greatest need. The iCAN grocery gift card program is a more dignified and inclusive approach to dealing with food insecurity, allowing families to shop where everyone else shops and to choose foods that are appropriate for their health and cultural needs. Explore their website to discover more about iCAN’s impact over the years.
For more information and media inquiries, please contact iCAN Executive Director, Bobbi Turko at bobbi@icanforkids.ca.
