Edward Kholodenko and Questrade providing meals to families in need

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The donors: Edward Kholodenko and staff at Questrade

The gift: 600,000 meals

The cause: Food Banks Canada

For years, Edward Kholodenko did something unusual on his way home from work every Thursday evening.

The chief executive of Questrade Inc. would pick up boxes of meals from a food bank near his home in Toronto and deliver them to families in need. “I just felt it was the right thing to do and I wanted to do something small to help,” said Mr. Kholodenko, who recently turned over the delivery route to his son.

When executives at Questrade started thinking about getting involved with a national charity, Mr. Kholodenko suggested Food Banks Canada, which works with a network of 3,000 food-related organizations across the country. “We just sat around and discussed who was involved in what charities. Another executive was involved with the same food bank as me and we decided; why not do something on a wider scale?”

The company launched a donation campaign nearly three years ago for Food Banks and so far it has raised enough money to provide 600,000 meals (every $1 donated buys about 3 meals). The campaign has expanded and Questrade now donates three meals for every new account. By the end of this year, the online brokerage expects to have raised the equivalent of 1.5 million meals. Employees at the company have also held food drives and other fundraising activities.

“A lot of people are hungry in Canada and it feels great to be able to do something, small at least, for them," Mr. Kholodenko said.