The Great Canadian Food Fight

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Saturday, October 19th, 2013
Thursday 6pm - 8pm kick off Friday 8am - 8pm Saturday 8am - 8pm

October 10, 2013

Events in support of The Mustard Seed�s Great Canadian Food Fight 2013

WHAT: Media are invited to a variety of activities throughout Victoria in support of The Mustard Seed�s Great Canadian Food Fight. For the fifth year in a row, The Mustard Seed will be participating in the national food and fundraising challenge with food banks from across Canada to raise the most food by weight in 48-hours.

The community can get involved by holding food drives at their place of work or education and bringing food and financial donations to the various drop-off locations around the city. Online donations are also accepted and for every $2.50 donated during the food fight, one pound of food will be added to The Mustard Seed�s total.

WHY: The food raised in the Great Canadian Food Fight is vital to the food bank�s ability to provide nutritional food hampers to more than 7,000 vulnerable Victorian�s each month throughout the winter and upcoming holiday season. Help from the community is needed and information on drop-off locations, how to make a financial donation and tips and tools for holding a food drive are available at mustardseed.ca.

The Mustard Seed has never won the Great Canadian Food Fight but raised almost 100,000 pounds of food in the 2012 competition and more than 500,000 pounds of food since it began participating. This year with the addition of new sponsors and event locations throughout the city, The Mustard Seed is hoping to raise more than 200,000 pounds of food in an effort to win the competition against the reigning champion, the Regina Food Bank.

WHEN: The Great Canadian Food Fight officially takes place between Thursday October 17, 2013 at 6:00 pm and Saturday October 19, 2013 at 6:00 pm. Media are invited to any event location for an update on the competition during the 48-hour period and well as the related events and photo opportunities listed below:

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

11:45 am � 12:15 pm a pre-event kick off with the Victoria Royals will be held at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre, to announce the organization�s initiatives in support of The Mustard Seed in the Great Canadian Food Fight. Members of team management as well as coaching staff and players will be available to speak to the media and refreshments will be provided.

Thursday, October 17, 2013

5:45 pm to 6:30 pm The Mustard Seed will hold an official event kick-off ceremony at The Bay Centre. A brief presentation including the acting mayor of the City of Victoria, Charlayne Thornton-Joe, will be followed by an official countdown and the first donations of food from local community leaders, sponsors and partners. Students from Dunsmuir Middle School will be delivering a large donation of food from their school food drive and Safeway, Country Grocer and Tru Value Foods will show off large-scale food structures in support of the event.

Friday, October 18, 2013

12:00 pm � 1:00 pm The Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce will hold a Celebrity Pie Throwing Event at Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre. Members of the public will make donations to throw pies at local business and community leaders from The Chamber, The City of Victoria, Victoria International Airport, Tourism Victoria, The Greater Victoria Harbour Authority and other organizations.

Saturday, October 19, 2013

12:00pm to 4:00 pm a family fun day event will be held with activities for families including a fire truck and firefighting activities with fire fighters from Victoria, Esquimalt, Oak Bay and Saanich fire departments as well as a bouncy castle, face painting and Sportball games provided by the Braefoot Community Association.

WHERE: Event and drop-off locations throughout Greater Victoria include:

� Ogden Point � Pier A 189 Dallas Road
� Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre - 1925 Blanshard Street
� The Bay Centre � 1150 Douglas Street
� Grocery stores throughout Greater Victoria
� Fire departments in Esquimalt, Oak Bay, Saanich and Victoria (1234 Yates Street)