The Bow Valley Good Food Box is a community partnership designed to make healthy, fresh fruit & vegetables accessible to everyone,  especially for residents who may be experiencing food insecurity.

For many residents in the Bow Valley, the cost of living impairs their ability to access fresh fruits & vegetables. According to Canada’s Food Price Report 2023, the average yearly cost of food for a family in Alberta went up 10.8% in 2022, and it is known that the cost of standard food items in the Bow Valley is higher than anywhere else in Alberta.

Unfortunately, the gap between cost of living & average wage here can & has resulted in issues with food security. The Bow Valley Good Food Box helps all residents access affordable & nutritious food. After doing some cost comparisons, we found that purchasing the same items received in the box at the grocery stores in Banff/Canmore come to just over 50$ – meaning purchasing the box saves you 20-25$ on fruits/veg!

Who’s involved?

This Bow Valley partnership includes the PCN, the Town of Banff, the M.D. of Bighorn, ID No. 9 (Lake Louise), with support from the Town of Canmore and the Bow Valley Food Alliance. Various generous community donors and grant-funding bodies provide money to make the boxes accessible to people with different affordability needs. Current funders include the Rotary Club of Canmore & the Pauw Foundation.

Since September 2019, the GFB has been available to residents across the Bow Valley; including Banff, Canmore, Kananaskis, Lake Louise, Mini Thni, & the M.D. of Bighorn.

As of January 2024, the above organizations are partnered with the Calgary Co-Op (& their companies FreshPath Logistics & Community Natural Foods). The team still purchases fresh, top-quality produce directly from farmers & wholesale suppliers to create the GFB each month. They make sure that the boxes contain the maximum amount of fresh fruits & vegetables possible for the cost. To do so, they also focus on what’s in season locally as much as possible.