REGINA — A tea tasting. A board game tournament. A bird-watching outing. A paint night. A trivia event at a local brewery.
On their own, they might seem like simple ways to spend an evening.
Together, they helped raise $106,788 for Carmichael Outreach.
Now, Play with Your Food is launching its 2026-27 FUNdraising season after a record-breaking campaign that exceeded expectations.
Since its founding in 2013, Play with Your Food has raised more than $500,000 for local charities and organizations, transforming everyday gatherings into meaningful support for people facing poverty, food insecurity and homelessness. What began as a board gaming fundraiser has evolved into a year-long micro-fundraising campaign powered almost entirely by volunteers.
The organization's latest campaign supported Carmichael Outreach, a Regina charity that provides frontline services, meals, housing support and other essential programs for people experiencing poverty, homelessness and substance use challenges.
For Play with Your Food chair Chelsea Steenbock, the success of the past year was both humbling and inspiring.
“Last campaign blew all of our expectations out of the water for sure,” Steenbock said.
“We are always super thrilled when we can get new people and new teams to the campaign and we set a goal and hope for the best because you never know. People and teams, you don't know how much they're going to fundraise and what their activities are, but last year they just completely nailed it.”
More than $80,000 of the total came directly from volunteer teams hosting their own grassroots fundraising events throughout Regina and surrounding communities.
“Our teams raised more than $80,000 of the $106,000 we raised just by hosting micro fundraisers,” Steenbock explained. “The rest of the funding came from our collaborative fundraisers. So that is a really incredible number, and we're very proud to have all those teams participate.”
What once revolved around a single board gaming event has expanded into dozens of community-led initiatives spread throughout the year. Steenbock believes the secret is simple.
“I think what really makes the micro fundraising approach successful is that Play with Your Food is purely focused on building community,” she said. “We care about people and relationships, and we care about doing fun things together in the community.”
That philosophy has led to an unusually diverse fundraising calendar.
“There's everything from tea tastings to board game events like Blood on the Clock Tower and Terraforming Mars and Wingspan to paint nights and bird watching,” Steenbock said. “There's just a variety of different things that really make the reach for our teams' events that much more successful.”
Unlike many traditional fundraising campaigns, the focus is not solely on dollars raised.
“We're actually doing things that regular community members actually want to attend too,” she said. “It's the relationships that come from attending those events that really make us and our model successful.”
That sense of connection is reflected in the campaign's annual finale — a unique 24-hour volunteer board gaming celebration that brings participants together after months of fundraising. Organizers describe it as less of a fundraiser and more of a celebration of the volunteers who made the year's impact possible.
For Steenbock, supporting organizations like Carmichael is deeply personal.
“I think it's the community work that really drives the work that I do,” she said. “We are close to the community and we understand and see the need.”
The launch of the new season comes shortly after Steenbock received a Regina 25 Award, recognizing her community impact and leadership.
She is quick to redirect the spotlight.
“I had to be a little bit arm-twisted to accept the nomination because it's all of our teams who do all the hard work,” she said. “I'm just the chair. I organize the campaign, but the teams are the ones who raise all the money.”
Still, she acknowledges the recognition has helped introduce more people to the organization.
“Since the nomination and the win, we're incredibly grateful because it's definitely opened some doors,” she said. “I'm really hoping this year that people will see Play with Your Food and they'll recognize it and they'll be like, ‘Oh, I should go to one of their events.'”
The future may be even bigger.
While details remain under wraps, Steenbock says new partnerships and new experiences are already being explored.
“There's been a few businesses that have reached out and said, ‘Hey, we like what you guys are doing. Can we partner up and do something kind of cool?'”
She teased more food-focused experiences, unique community events and entirely new fundraising concepts for the coming season.
“There's lots in store for this year for sure.”
As Play with Your Food enters another campaign year, organizers say community support will be critical to sustaining that growth. Businesses can contribute through sponsorships, prize donations and partnerships, while residents can support the cause simply by attending events.
“What we need most is businesses to support us,” she said. “People can come out to our events, they can donate prizes, they can donate cash to help us offset some of our costs because we're all just a group of volunteers.
For Steenbock, the formula remains remarkably simple: bring people together, have fun and create meaningful change.
“We care about people. We care about relationships. And when communities come together around those things, that's when the magic happens.”
