Leon Draisaitl, Ford of Canada, Hockey Helps Kids and hundreds of Edmonton students collect 17,000 pounds of food for WE Scare Hunger

-Community comes together in support of Edmonton's Food Bank donation shortage-
-Please click here for photos from today's celebration event at Ford Hall-

EDMONTON, Nov. 5, 2019 /CNW/ - Today, Edmonton Oilers star forward and Hockey Helps Kids team captain, Leon Draisaitl, joined students from across Edmonton at Ford Hall in Rogers Place for a WE Scare Hunger event, made possible by Ford of Canada. To close Edmonton's Food Bank donation gap, local schools conducted a food drive in lead up to the event, galvanizing friends, family and the community to donate. Currently on a monthly basis, more than 20,000 Edmontonians rely on the food bank. Students, Leon, Hockey Helps Kids and Ford of Canada employees rolled up their sleeves to sort and load the final food donations onto a convoy of ten Ford F-150 trucks to deliver the 17,000 pounds of food to Edmonton's Food Bank.

Students were honoured for their efforts with inspiring speeches from Spencer West, WE ambassador and author, and Jim Hartford, Vice-President of Marketing and Sales, Ford of Canada, who spoke about the importance of giving back and the issue of local food insecurity. Students were also treated to an uplifting performance by hit singer-songwriter, Karl Wolf.

Each year, Ford of Canada generously provides vehicles across the country to help schools collect and transport their WE Scare Hunger donations to food banks and local dealers also hold their own food drives. Since 2014, alongside Canadian students, Ford dealers have collected and transported over 1.3 million pounds of food to food banks across Canada.

"We're thrilled to be here today to celebrate the dealers and students who came together to raise awareness on local hunger and collect a staggering 17,000 pounds of food," said Jim Hartford, Vice-President of Marketing and Sales, Ford of Canada. "Ford is about going further for our communities and through WE Scare Hunger dealers in Edmonton and across Canada are proud to help deliver donations to local food banks." 

Leon Draisaitl is passionate about supporting Edmonton and as part of his eight year annual charitable commitment, he has donated $150,000 for a second year in support of WE in Alberta and Hockey Helps Kids, which bring the WE Schools program free to school groups across the province. Leon's donation will be matched at fifty percent by the Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation (EOCF), for a total donation of $225,000.

"It's been incredible to spend time with Edmonton youth, helping to pack up the donations and learn why fighting local hunger is important to all of us," said Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton Oilers star forward and Hockey Helps Kids team captain. "We're stronger as a team and thanks to WE and WE Scare Hunger we have been able to make an impact for those who need our support."

"We are humbled and grateful to Leon and Hockey Helps Kids for their donation to support WE Schools in Alberta," said Craig Kielburger, co-founder of WE Charity. "Thanks to Ford of Canada for their support of WE Scare Hunger last year we saw thousands of school groups across the country take action on the issue of local hunger and thanks to Ford dealers across the country young people will have the opportunity to impact their community."

WE Scare Hunger is one of WE's local awareness campaigns, made possible by Ford of Canada, that educates young people about local hunger issues and provides them with an interactive campaign to take action on the issue. WE Scare Hunger is part of WE's larger service-learning program, WE Schools, which is free to schools across the province. In the 2018/2019 school year 3,836 school groups across Canada advocated for hunger issues and participated in WE Scare Hunger. For more information about WE Scare Hunger and to learn how to incorporate the campaign into the classroom, visit WE.org/wescarehunger. 

About WE
WE is a family of organizations that makes doing good, doable. WE is made up of WE Charity, empowering domestic and international change, ME to WE, a social enterprise that creates socially conscious products and experiences to help support the charity, and WE Day, filling stadiums around the world with the greatest celebration of social good.

WE Charity was founded by New York Times Bestselling authors Craig Kielburger and Marc Kielburger, in 1995, with a mission to fight child labour. WE has since grown and evolved to address the root cause of child labour - extreme poverty. In the past 24 years, WE's programs have empowered over 1 million people with clean water, built 1,500 schools and schoolrooms overseas, and empowered more than 200,000 children with access to education.

WE enables youth and families to better the world—supporting 7,200+ local and global causes by volunteering millions of hours of service, shopping daily with an impact, and raising millions of dollars that directly benefit their local communities and the world.

WE's headquarters is based in Toronto, Canada at the WE Global Learning Centre, a service and social innovation accelerator for young people, leading them to become the next generation of leaders and towards a brighter future.

Join the movement today at WE.org.

About Ford Motor Company of Canada, Limited
Ford of Canada's operations include a national headquarters, three regional offices, three vehicle assembly and engine manufacturing plants, two parts distribution centres, two R&D sites, and three Connectivity and Innovation centres. Ford employs approximately 8,000 people in Canada, while an additional 18,000 people are employed in the more than 400 Ford and Ford-Lincoln dealerships across the country. For more information, please visit Ford.ca.

About the Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation:
The Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation is dedicated to building strong, vibrant and safe communities by demonstrating philanthropic leadership and continues its deep legacy of giving back. Thanks to the generosity of our valued hockey fans, Oilers players and alumni, the EOCF Board of Directors, Oilers Entertainment Group (OEG) employees and the Katz Family, the Foundation has contributed over $40 million to more than 2,900 charities, community groups and minor hockey programs across Oil Country since 2001. For more information, visit OilersFoundation.ca.

SOURCE WE Charity

Katryna Szagala, Public Relations, WE Charity, [email protected], 647 298 734; Amanda Kemsley, Brookline Public Relations, [email protected], 403 389 2291