Rider fans heading to Saturday’s game against the Montreal Alouettes will be able to once again take part in the Purolator Tackle Hunger campaign.

Fans will be able to bring their non-perishable food or cash donations to the game, and in turn will be able to get a picture taken with the Grey Cup. All proceeds are going to the Regina Food Bank.

CEO John Bailey said it’s an important food drive for the food bank.

“The Tackle Hunger game is a big deal for us because it comes at a time when our shelves are starting to get a little bit bare, and usually the city of Regina and Rider fans in general turn out in a big way for us.”

Bailey said Rider fans helped the food bank immensely last year.

“Between cash and food donations, we did the equivalency of 65,000 meals, so that basically fills our shelves for two or three weeks here,” Bailey said. “It’s a really big time of year for us because our needs are going up, and it’s great timing.”

However, Bailey says this year, the need is great.

“Generally speaking, we start to really an increase in demand for our services and people wanting to use our services in October or November, this year it’s really starting early,” Bailey said. “Just this week, Tuesday and Thursday, those two days combined, we had almost 1,000 individuals requesting services on a given day.”

Bailey adds Rider fans typically lead the way with single-day donations across the league, and hopes for the same result. Last year, Rider fans donated over 63,000 pounds of food to the food bank through the tackle hunger campaign.