Our journey
Leading a long-overdue transformation in how Alberta tackles food insecurity.
In 2020, we stopped giving food – and took a bold step forward.
Sutton Garner at age 11, when she co-founded I Can for Kids.
We used to feed hungry kids…
For over 40 years, giving food to hungry children and families was considered the solution to food insecurity. But it’s fraught with unintended negative consequences. It dictates what they get to eat without giving them much of a choice. And it doesn’t even begin to address the underlying cause: inadequate income.
Now we empower families to feed themselves.
In 2020, we pioneered a more dignified approach to alleviate food insecurity – by empowering families with grocery gift cards. Now, parents can choose their own food at the local grocery store, where everybody else shops.
Today, our energized team collaborates with more than 25 frontline social service agencies, community, and public healthcare partners. Working side-by-side enables us to reach thousands of households with limited resources – while providing support to overcome their additional challenges.
- Leanne Zee, Board Chair
- Bobbi Turko, Co-Founder and Executive Director
- Sutton Garner, Co-Founder
- Samara Kambeitz, Director, Programs and Partnerships
It started with “Why?”
When Sutton Garner, then 11, first learned about summer hunger she was bothered. And curious. When she found out that it was a problem in her city, she – with her mother, Bobbi Turko – set out to do something about it. This was the catalyst that launched I Can for Kids as a traditional program delivering food to vulnerable kids over the summer months.
Collaboration with frontline partners
Our founding model is based on relationships with frontline social service agency partners who have direct contact with families living with food insecurity. They provide us with regular feedback from their clients.
Our pivot to grocery gift cards
In 2020, COVID-19 disrupted the food supply chain. Protocols shut down our facility and prevented our volunteers from assembling food packs. Our robust distribution system meant we didn’t have to miss a beat – we immediately pivoted to grocery gift cards.
Validation
Our research with the University of Calgary and our evaluation with agency partners demonstrated many notable advantages of our grocery gift card program compared to free food hampers – it proved to be a more dignified model providing autonomy and choice to families in greatest need.
Sustainment and growth
We continue to provide grocery gift cards as our sole vehicle of support for food-insecure families. We now focus our energy on enhancing the program’s sustainability, reach, and impact by strengthening new and ongoing partnerships and collaborations.
Looking forward
We are highly committed to conduct further research on our grocery gift card approach and collaborate with other agencies and public healthcare programs who share our mission to alleviate food insecurity among low-income populations. Together, we can take food insecurity off the table for more Albertans.
Our vision
We imagine a world where all children have an equal opportunity to thrive.
Our mission
We empower children and families with dignified options to alleviate food insecurity.
Our values
Collaborative | Empowering | Progressive Inclusive | Evidence-Based
“One big reason why we’ve chosen to support I Can for Kids is our admiration for the way they are disrupting the conventions and inefficiencies of addressing food insecurity in kids and families through food programs. Once a food program themselves, we totally respect the way they innovated a different path that ensures families can get healthy food to the point of need in a focused, dignified, and highly impactful way. That is what innovation is all about – creating real change with real results!”
Dive deeper
Our partnerships with Primary Care Alberta support new moms and babies
Welcoming a new baby should be a time of joy and celebration. Yet food insecurity has serious negative impacts for new moms and young babies. Our first collaboration with the public healthcare system helps address these challenges.
The grocery gift card approach gains momentum and credibility
More than forty years of traditional food programming has fallen short. That’s why in 2020, we took advantage of the global pandemic to implement and study an innovative change to our response to food insecurity.
From deep roots grow new branches
We’re thrilled to announce our expansion into rural areas – thanks to funding from Nutrien and our new collaboration with McMan Central. We’re bringing the innovative grocery gift card model to communities where traditional support can often be more difficult.
Together, we can take food insecurity off the table.
Grocery gift cards improve the lives of children and families in ways that traditional food programs do not. When you support I Can for Kids you are creating a future where more Albertans live free from food insecurity and have equal opportunities to thrive.
