Although it seems like there's always another social media challenge to participate in, it's rare to see one that impacts your local community — but the #onebagchallenge does just that.
The challenge is really quite simple:
"Somebody brings a bag into their local food bank of non-expired, non-perishable food items and then they tag five of their friends [on Facebook] to do the same," Jen Sibley, Agassiz-Harrison Community Services' events coordinator, explained.
The initiative originally started in Kelowna when the mayor of the city posted a video to Facebook challenging others to jump on the bandwagon and bring a bag of non-perishable food items to their local food bank.
Since then the challenge has gone viral with communities all over Canada, and even premier Christy Clark, participating.
And with the end of summer just around the corner, the challenge couldn't have come at a better time for the Agassiz-Harrison Community Services Food Bank.
"Summer is always so hard for the food bank, people are always busy with other things," Sibley said. "Now that we're coming into September and school is starting, we'll have a lot more traffic through the food bank because of that."
Summer is one of the hardest times for food banks and donations rarely meet the demands.
"If it's the one bag challenge, even if it's food drives, we need help," Sibley said. "All we have right now is maybe a week or two of donations."
So far, only a handful of Agassiz residents have participated in the challenge, but Sibley is hoping to see an increase.
"The need is there and it's a fun way to help out," she said. "It's a good way of challenging your friends."
Anyone interested in participating in the challenge can drop a bag of non-perishable food off at the Agassiz-Harrison Community Services Food Bank, located at 7086 Cheam Ave.