United Way Local Love Food Hub funding supports meal preparation for distribution to those in need at community partners like CityReach Care Society. Photo: Courtesy CityReach Care Society
As we pass Thanksgiving, United Way Local Love Food Hubs have served 1.2 million meals. That’s because more British Columbians than ever are struggling to keep food in their cupboards due to COVID-19 and the economic fallout from the crisis. About 15% of British Columbians are now food insecure. For families with children, it’s even higher at about 19%.
“It has been a difficult situation,” says Marta, a South Vancouver resident, who lives with her two adult sons and granddaughter. She recently had knee surgery and is on a disability income. Both her sons lost their jobs at Vancouver International Airport because of COVID.
With United Way Local Love Food Hub support, families like Marta’s and others have been getting the help they need.
“Through our Local Love Food Hub initiative, we’re bringing together organizations in innovative ways to help meet demand. We’ve paired CityReach Care Society, which offers food programs to low-income households, with organizations like the Food Stash Foundation, which rescues surplus food directly from suppliers to help fill that gap,” says Kim Winchell, Senior Director, Strategy & Operations at United Way British Columbia.
Thanks to partners like CityReach and Food Stash more than 220,000 grocery hampers and 30,000 grocery vouchers have been shared through 136 Local Love Food Hubs in neighbourhoods across the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley.
Local Love Food Hub helps
Every month, United Way community partner, Food Stash redistributes 60,000 pounds of fresh edible food to those in need across the Lower Mainland.
“Support from the Local Love Food Hub has increased the quantity, quality, variety and nutritional value of the food hampers for our guests,” says Craig Savage, Tri-Cities Community Director at CityReach Care Society. “It is also a big part of the reason we have been able to dramatically expand the number of households we are able to help.”
Weekly CityReach serves 800 families including many recent immigrants, single parents, seniors and those struggling to find and keep affordable housing in East and South Vancouver and Port Coquitlam. That’s up dramatically from the beginning of 2020 when CityReach served about 100 families.
Helping people, helping the planet
Seven days a week, Food Stash picks up perishable food that would otherwise go to waste, from supermarkets and grocery stores across the Lower Mainland, and delivers to partners like City Reach, who receive one to three shipments five days a week for distribution to those in need. Photo courtesy: Food Stash Foundation
Food Stash accounts for 30% of CityReach’s current monthly donations by redistributing truckloads of healthy, nutritious perishables collected from almost a dozen supermarkets and grocery stores that might end up as waste. CityReach is one of the organization’s charity partners.
“We specialize in the pick-up and redistribution of recovered food, which helps supply City Reach with the quantities [of food] they need to not only feed their current members, but expand their programs during this time of increased need,” says Julia Hunter, Executive Director at the Food Stash Foundation. With Local Love Food Hub funding, Food Stash has been able to hire an additional driver to help with the increased scheduling and route dispatch.
“Our team of drivers work extremely hard to complete same-day delivery of the perishable food we recover to make sure it gets into the right hands as soon as possible. Food that doesn’t make it to our partners returns to our storage facility daily, where we sort and re-pack it into grocery boxes as part of our Rescued Food and Pedal to Plate household delivery programs,” Julia says.
One of those right hands is CityReach’s Mobile Pop-up program, which delivers fresh fruits, vegetables, dairy, proteins and grains to neighbourhoods like South Vancouver’s Killarney neighbourhood, so people don’t have to take the bus to a food bank, they can simply walk.
“The food items are all very useful. We have learned to survive with what we have,” says Marta. “This program is coming at exactly the right moment when we are struggling.”
Local love in action
“Throughout this crisis, United Way donors have shown their local love by volunteering at and donating to our Local Love Food Hubs,” says Kim. “When I’m out in community and see children, families and seniors receiving nutritious, wholesome food thanks to our supporters, I’m just so grateful. By working together, we’re weathering this pandemic and looking to build on what we’ve created so everyone in our community emerges feeling cared for.”
“United Way’s support of this program has been game changing for Food Stash. It has enabled us to expand our operations in a time that necessitates it and grow our impact in the community,” says Julia. “It has also been invaluable to build on connections via United Way with new partners, which will have a lasting impact on our partnerships and programming in the months and years to come.”
Craig Savage of CityReach agrees: “United Way is visionary because they recognize the need for collaboration and have partnered us with other organizations, so together we can do more than we can each do individually.”
United Way British Columbia is leading a Food Security Roundtable, which is working towards a comprehensive sustainable food security system for all British Columbians.
Help us feed our friends and neighbours. Show your local love. Donate today online or give through your workplace giving campaign.
Topics : Building strong communities, COVID19, Food Security, Local love
