Alberta man in Charlottetown to drop off $10K donation to help end hunger

When Geoff Gyles decided to realize a life-long goal for Canada's 150th anniversary and travel to each Canadian capital city, he also thought he'ddo some good along the way and help put an end to hunger.

Gyles, 60, of Canmore, Alta., was in Charlottetown on Wednesday with a $10,000 cheque for the Upper Room Food Bank and Soup Kitchen.

• $10K for you and you and you: Alberta man drops off cheques in each Canadian capital to help the hungry

The cheque was part of Gyles' plan to donate $10,000 in each provincial and territorial capital city to food banks and related charities that are involved with ending hunger.

Gyles, who works in agri-business, is donating a total of $150,000 to mark Canada's 150th anniversary as part of the Journey to End Hunger. Besides the $130,000 set aside for capital cities, the remaining amount is being donated to national organizations that provide breakfasts for children, he said.

Gyles was motivated to help out after researching hunger statistics in Canada, and especially, after learning how hunger affects children.

'I thought I would do some good'

"I started looking into some of the statistics and I was taken aback by the numbers and the size of the numbers of people. Like in Canada, over 800,000 people use food banks every month. And that's quite a large number," he said on CBC Radio's Mainstreet P.E.I.

"So, I thought I would do some good."

The Upper Room Soup Kitchen feeds between 85 and 130 people a day, including families with young children.

Tammy MacKinnon, manager of the soup kitchen, said the donation will go a long way to help people on the Island.

"We depend so much on donations, both food and financial. But $10,000 can purchase a lot of food, a lot of healthy things that families can really use," she said.

According to the Journey to End Hunger website, Gyles made his first donation on June 2 in St. John's, N.L. He is mostly driving but admits there may be times that he'll have to fly.

After Charlottetown, he is scheduled to travel to Halifax and then Iqaluit.

• MORE P.E.I. NEWS |Cornwall asking if it should allow taller buildings
• MORE P.E.I. NEWS |Charlottetown Police issuing written warnings to panhandlers