Can you guess how much a tiger weighs?
As part of its Lunar New Year celebrations, Richmond’s Lansdowne Centre is hosting its first tiger guessing contest to support the Richmond Food Bank.
Visitors can enter the contest by making a suggested cash donation of $5 to the Richmond Food Bank.
Once that’s done, guess the weight of the giant cloth tiger that is filled with dry, packaged food and is sitting in Lansdowne’s kiosk court, near Best Buy,
While it might look far from a normal tiger, it has a story of its own.
In folklore, the cloth tiger is a traditional Chinese toy with the ability to ward off evil spirits and protect families and children. The main features of this tiger is its big head, large eyes, large mouth and big tail, symbolizing a courageous demeanor. The belief is that a child can grow up to be strong and lively like a tiger.
The person who comes closest to guessing the weight of the packaged food in the cloth tiger will win $388 in gift cards to Lansdowne Centre.
Lansdowne is also promising to match the donations up to $5,000.
According to Hajira Hussain, executive director of the Richmond Food Bank Society, food security has become more important than ever.
“The need for food has been greater than ever and the pandemic has increased that struggle,” said Hussain.
“This generosity from the community is what has helped us serve the increase of number of people, and we thank everyone that continues to support us.”
Chad Ishikawa, general manager of Lansdowne Centre, said that while they cannot properly celebrate Chinese New Year with a big festival, they are “more committed than ever before in supporting” the Richmond community.
“Chinese New Year is a time to celebrate family, unity and home, and that is why this year, we’re inviting our visitors to join us in supporting the Richmond Food Bank,” said Ishikawa,” he said.
Visitors can also pick up a wishing tag from customer service to write a wish and hang them on a “wish wall” right behind the “Lansdowne tiger.”
The packaged food inside the Lansdowne tiger is being donated by Lansdowne T&T Supermarket, with the items inside also heading to the food bank afterwards.
The contest ends on Feb. 15.
-with files from Alan Campbell
