When I was a kid money was tight but the food bank was there to help make ends meet–especially during the time my mom was a single mother of three. We were lucky in that we didn’t need to use it regularly, but every year we received a ‘Christmas hamper’ and they really made the holidays shine. There was always a big turkey, for starters, and then the rest of the contents were like an amazing surprise bag of food. I still remember the excitement I felt pulling things out of the box with my mom and either cheering or groaning. “Yay! Candy!” or “Eww… escargo? Who eats snails?” (Give me a break, I was a kid).

These days I’m in a much better position financially, but that’s not true of everyone. In fact, given the fire in Fort Mac, the current economic state in Alberta and the influx of Syrian refugees, I’d guess that more families than ever are going to need help from the food bank to make their holidays awesome. So this year, I’m dedicating my annual Giftmas Blog Tour to food–sharing favourite family recipes and collecting donations for the Edmonton Food Bank.

Although my fundraising page is open to donations now, at this point I’m primarily looking for people to participate in the blog tour.

What Is Required:

Participants will be asked to write two blog posts — one to appear on their own webpage, blog or social media page* and one to appear on another participant’s webpage, blog or social media.

• Blog posts will be between 200 – 750 words long and include (at a minimum)
  • a story about food during the holidays and/or a favourite family recipe from the holidays.
  • a Giftmas Blog Tour graphic
  • a link to the Edmonton Food Bank fundraiser page for this event
• Including a short biography with links to your website or work is encouraged.

Participants will be asked to host two blog posts — one that they have written themselves and one that another participant has written.

• I will need your permission to give your email address to the person you will be hosting so they can email you their blog post.
• Posting days will be determined ahead of time. You will absolutely get to provide input on when you post.

Timeline:

Sign-ups will be open until November 23rd.
The posting schedule will be determined by November 30th.
Guest blogs will be due to their host by December 3rd. (Participants are encouraged to write these early. Especially since December tends to be a busy month for many people.)
The blog tour runs from December 5th – December 12th.

To Sign-Up:

 

**Sign-ups are now closed. Thank you!**

*This is a new thing I’m trying out. Your chosen media platform will have to allow for blog-length posts so, for example, while Goodreads or a Facebook Page could work, Twitter most certainly would not