Ping Pong for a Purpose is a fundraising event held to raise money for the Calgary Food Bank through games of ping pong. This year it was held at Brix and Barrell on March 20, 2025.
The event was started by Michael Hoffman and Ryan Wales while attending the University of British Columbia. They found their love for the game playing on a ping pong table set up in their shared house.
When they started working at the Alberta Treasury Branch and were involved with clients doing fundraisers food banks, they then came up with the idea.
“Hoffman recalls, “Over some beers one day, decided to coin this Ping Pong for a Purpose and started slowly, but now it’s really caught on.”
Now, seven Ping Pongs for a Purpose later, Hoffman and Wales have raised over $200,000 for the Calgary Food Bank so far and are now joined by three other directors, including Keith Sierre, who noted why they chose the foodbank.
“If you think about the demand for the Calgary Food Bank has skyrocketed with the price of food, and people having food insecurity has increased significantly in Calgary and in the past couple years, they’ve seen record levels of people using the food bank. So, they need the support more now than ever,” said Sierre.
With the overwhelming demand at the Food Bank, Melissa From, the CEO of the Calgary Food Bank, described how helpful the event is.
“Events like this not only obviously raise money for us, but it’s raising the voice. It’s elevating our presence in the community. It’s getting people involved in a unique and fun way.”
Hoffman, Wales and Sierre plan on running this event for as long as they can, with the hopes that one day they’ll reach a million dollars fro the food bank.
