When Dr. Allan Garbutt was looking to help address hunger in his hometown of Crowsnest Pass, he knew the local food bank could always use beef.

Last year, Dr. Garbutt organized the town’s physicians in buying and processing a cull cow that provided over 200 kg of ground beef to the local food bank. This year, when Dr. Garbutt went to repeat the donation he discovered the cost of cull cows had gone up dramatically.

Determined to make it work, he spoke to Back Country Butchering, who suggested buying trim (used to make ground beef) for the same price. In the end, Dr. Garbutt and his colleagues donated just over 315 kg of hamburger – enough to feed food bank clients for roughly five months.

“It’s a lot of beef, so we all had to pitch in to transport it.” In fact the donation was so large, the food bank bought another freezer just to house it.

Providing a meat donation to the local food bank is a tradition Dr. Garbutt’s clinic – which has also begun supporting the Breakfast Club in the local K-3 school – plans to continue. “In towns like this, every person and every kid that we help is connected to our patients. They’re our community.”

It’s also something he encourages other physicians to consider doing. “It’s not hard to do, it’s not that expensive and you can really make an impact in your community. And if anyone wants to know how to donate meat, I’m happy to tell them exactly how to get it done!”