When the pandemic hit in March - and the doors closed on the 12 locations where the Greater Vancouver Food Bank distributed food each week - they had to get creative.
When Food Banks Canada sent through the GVFB’s portion of the recent federal funding for food banks, its CEO, David Long, had an idea.
They were already sending hundreds of grocery bags full of food each week to their previous neighbourhood house partners, to support efforts to get food to seniors, people who were self-isolating, or who struggle with mobility issues.
“What if we could help them with refrigeration on site, and give them more perishable food?” Long wondered.
The GVFB not only reached out to the neighbourhood partners where they distributed food pre-COVID, but they also offered refrigeration and healthy food each week to several new community organizations who provide grocery, meal and snack programs on the front lines of their communities.
To date, 14 organizations are on board and have either received or are about to receive an industrial-sized fridge and freezer, and are looking forward to weekly deliveries of both perishable and non-perishable food from the GVFB.
This represents an increase in the GVFB’s community food coverage, when you include their large weekly distribution locations in Burnaby, Vancouver, New Westminster and North Vancouver.
“I wanted to use the federal funds to offer onsite refrigeration to these critical community organizations, to really build their capacity and increase the sustainability of their food programs. I saw that this as an opportunity to distribute more food to our neighbourhoods, focussing on seniors and people with mobility issues, who would have a hard time travelling to our main distribution locations,” Long said.
One benefactor is the North Burnaby Neighbourhood House, which called the new equipment a “game-changer” for the organization.
“Due to COVID-19, we took over some second-hand fridges from the child-care program, but when the child-care program starts up again in the fall, we will no longer have any cold storage capacity for our produce and anything that needs refrigeration,” said Simone Brandl, program director for NBNH. “Now we have this massive refrigerator, and the huge freezer, it means they can just be incorporated into the space, and we can still have our community activities – so it’s a massive game-changer for us.”
