How to donate your $25 Loblaw gift card to charity

Since Loblaw Companies Ltd. fessed up to fixing bread prices from 2001 to 2015 and made its offer of $25 gift cards to grocery shoppers, there’s been a social media push to encourage Canadians to donate their cards to charity. With the registration period for the cards running from January 8 to May 8, food banks across Canada are at the ready.

For some consumers there can be a good sense of closure, getting bread money or even bread itself back in the cupboards of those who could least afforded any price fixing. But charities also say there may be other nonperishables that work better for a food bank and it’s better to just donate the money and let the organizations figure out how to spend that donation best.

READ: You can now sign up for the $25 Loblaw card

If you want to go this route, first, apply for the gift card at the Loblaw card website. When you receive it, you can simply drop it off at your local food bank. You can find the nearest one through the websites listed below.

Better yet, get people in your neighbourhood, community or workplace to apply as well and then drop the cards off in one go to streamline the donation process.

“It may seem like a paltry sum to some people but it’s real money, it’s currency, so it can do a lot of good for those struggling on lower incomes,” says Roy Weber, managing director of Community Charity Services for the Waterloo region in Ontario. Gift cards are a better way to give than dropping off food, he says. “We prefer gift cards so the food banks can choose the foods they’re short on and buy those goods for their patrons.”

Here’s how to find your nearest food bank in each province:

British Columbia

Search for food banks by postal code here.

Or contact Food Banks BC at:

Phone: 604-498-1798
Toll free: 1-855-498-1798
Email:[email protected]

Alberta

Find a list of all food banks here.

Or contact Food Banks Alberta at:

Phone: 780-459-4598
Toll-Free: 1-866-251-2326
Email: [email protected]

Sasktachewan

Find a list of all food banks here.

Or contact Food Banks of Saskatchewan at:

Phone: 306-791-6530
Email: [email protected]

Manitoba

Find a list of all food banks here.

Or contact Manitoba Food Banks at 204-982-3663.

Ontario

Search food banks by postal code here.

Or contact the Ontario Association of Food banks at:

Phone: 416-656-4100
Email: [email protected]

Quebec

Search food banks by postal code here.

Or contact Food Banks of Quebec at:

Phone: 514-344-0789

Email: [email protected]

New Brunswick

Find a list of New Brunswick food banks here.

Or contact the New Brunswick Association of Food Banks at:

Phone: 506-227-0417

Email: [email protected]

Nova Scotia

Find a list of Nova Scotia food banks here.

Or contact Feed Nova Scotia at:

Phone:  902-457-1900

Email: [email protected]

Prince Edward Island

Find a list of P.E.I.’s food banks here.

The territories

Niqinik Nuatsivik Nunavut Food Bank: 867-975-4669

Salvation Army Yellowknife: 867-920-4673

Food Bank Society of Whitehorse: 867-393-2265