A pair of Saskatchewan Roughriders visited the Regina Food Bank Tuesday to officially kick off the Purolator Tackle Hunger campaign.

Charleston Hughes and AC Leonard both toured the facility and met with volunteers to get a first-hand look at the way things work at the facility.

Leonard said the need for food is great.

“You got to eat to survive in this world, and people (are) able to come over here and get food, all the nutrients for them and their family.”

Hughes said he was impressed by the work being done at the building.

“The kind of structure they got going on here when they’re growing plants, they’re harvesting stuff like that, and just watching the way they got everything separated and labelled, and how well everything is well organized is great to see.”

Spokesperson for the food bank Shelley ArmBruster said with kids being back in school, the food bank needs more donations.

“A lot of our families struggle over the summer months because the kids are home,” Armbruster said. “Now that they’re back in school as of (Tuesday), all of the feeding programs all begin again, so it’s not quite as heavily weighed on a lot of families but there’s still the need.”

In their 2019 annual report, the Regina Food Bank says they get 239 requests for service per day. For last year’s Purolator Tackle Hunger game, fans were able to donate over 63,00 pounds of food.