Mayor Jeremy Farkas and several city councillors volunteered their time on Monday, May 25, 2026, to prepare lunches for students at Brown Bagging for Calgary's Kids, while also issuing a proclamation designating the day as National Brown Bagging It Day in the city.
Program Reaches Thousands of Students
Brown Bagging for Calgary's Kids operates a school lunch program that serves approximately 8,000 children every day across 300 schools in Calgary. Executive Director Bethany Ross explained the significance of the initiative after assembling sandwiches alongside the mayor. The organization also runs other programs, but the lunch program remains its largest and most impactful effort.
Raising Awareness About Food Insecurity
The event aimed to highlight the ongoing issue of food insecurity among children. According to Statistics Canada data from 2024, 38 percent of children in Alberta live in households that experience some level of food insecurity. Brown Bagging's facility is nut-free and can accommodate various dietary restrictions to ensure all children receive appropriate meals.
A full lunch—including a sandwich, fruit, vegetable, snack, and yogurt or cheese string—costs the organization only $4 to prepare and deliver. However, rising food costs have made it challenging to maintain both nutrition and affordability. Ross noted, “We’re working really hard to make sure that we have the resources we need, whether that’s people, money, or other resources to feed as many kids as we can.”
Volunteer Efforts and Community Support
More than 600 volunteers participate weekly, starting as early as 6 a.m., to hand-make lunches and deliver them to students. At peak times, the organization schedules up to 11 volunteer shifts per week. Ross emphasized that seeing Farkas and city hall members volunteer demonstrates Calgary's commitment to addressing student food insecurity.
Farkas described the day as one of his community service days, joined by councillors Mike Jamieson (Ward 12) and John Pantazopoulos (Ward 6). After assembling over 100 turkey sandwiches and bagging 200 baby carrots, Farkas shared that he is an occasional volunteer with Brown Bagging and that this effort was part of his promise to return to the central kitchen following his campaign trail.
Proclamation and Future Plans
The proclamation recognizes Brown Bagging's work and draws attention to food security challenges. Farkas stated, “Four in 10 of us are impacted by food insecurity, and it’s important for us to continue to support these organizations addressing those needs as well as stepping up to fix some of the root causes.” He also shared that he was occasionally a recipient of such programs growing up, underscoring their importance.
Looking ahead, Farkas said the city plans to match provincial investments and ensure federal funds flow quickly into local programs. He criticized bureaucratic hurdles, adding, “Alberta is significantly impacted by legislation that essentially requires a significant amount of bureaucracy and micromanagement when it comes to federal money. From the federal standpoint, money committed on this should flow through to Calgarians and Albertans as quickly as possible, and the province of Alberta needs to get out of the way.”
