A Successful Seniors’ Program Launch!
At the beginning of 2021, we were faced with the startling fact that between 1,500-1,800 seniors require food support every month. Of that number, 74% reside in Vancouver.
With the heightened sense of anxiety and isolation our communities have experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, we realized that creating a nutrition program for seniors was more crucial than ever.
Thanks to your incredible generosity, our Seniors’ Program launched successfully in early July and has since made a tremendous difference in the lives of our senior clients. We consulted with a Vancouver Coastal Health Dietician to address our senior clients’ nutritional needs and created a series of menus including low sodium, high protein sandwich meats and eggs, high sources of calcium and iron such as cheese and oatmeal, plenty of nutritious fresh items like spinach, bananas and pears, and of course some high protein nutritional shakes that our senior clients have often requested. These foods require little preparation or handling of large kitchen equipment, and are easy to digest!
Our Seniors’ Program is provided once a month alongside the regular allotment of food based on their household size. The looks on their faces when they saw the additional food they were receiving were truly heartwarming.
We look forward to conducting our client feedback surveys in the coming months to continue improving our program to meet the needs of our senior neighbours!
Maxwell, 78, Gives the Seniors’ Program a Big Thumbs Up!
At 78, Maxwell is a kind, cheerful client who never fails to bring a smile to our faces. He is as sharp as ever and will go above and beyond to crack a joke with our staff. Sadly, Maxwell struggles with health issues that have significantly affected his lifestyle and diet.
Maxwell was beyond thrilled to receive a nutrition program that caters to his needs!
“I have issues in my lungs and am trying to keep my weight down. The healthy options in the Seniors’ Pack like the bok choy and low-sodium deli meats have been a great help!”
Maxwell has been a client with us since he retired as a plumber 14 years ago. He is truly astounded by the improvements we’ve made in our food quality over the years.
“I grew up not having much, so I was taught never to waste food and always to be appreciative. I am a big fan of all the vegetables that I get from you, I give it a big thumbs up!”
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for helping us relieve the stress of accessing nourishing food for our senior clients.
Supporting Even More People Through the Covenant House
Covenant House is one of the 22 new Community Agency Partners that we welcomed to our team as of July!
For over 20 years, Covenant House Vancouver has provided unconditional love and respect to youth experiencing homelessness. Their core programs range from drop-in services to general outreach in the hopes of enabling youth to transition into independence successfully.
Their drop-in includes a program called Covey’s Cupboard, a monthly event where they provide youth who are housed with a bag of non-perishable food for free. They also provide youth who are homeless or staying in non-Covenant House shelters with bags of snacks and food that don’t require cooking facilities. The GVFB also supports Covenant House’s meal programs as well.
Through our partnership, the GVFB provides Covenant House with nourishing non-perishable goods for Covey’s Cupboard.
“A meal lovingly prepared is truly a powerful thing. It can be that key stepping-stone for our youth as they work towards independence. It fuels our youth as they look for work, learn important life skills and work through past traumas.” – Kristy Hayter, Director of Communications and Marketing at Covenant House
With YOUR help, you are helping ensure that Covenant House can continue providing healthy, filling, and delicious meals to youth.
Events
9th Annual REEL Thanksgiving Challenge Sept 27th to Oct 8th, 2021
The REEL Thanksgiving Challenge is an annual two-week-long fundraising event, presented by the Directors Guild of Canada, in support of the Greater Vancouver Food Bank. Each year, approximately 20-30 productions participate in the challenge. New productions are being added daily, make sure to support your favourite production by donating to their page when the event starts!
Visit reelthanks.foodbank.bc.ca to donate to your favourite production!
Clients in the Kitchen
On October 4th, we are launching our Fall-themed cookbook, Clients in the Kitchen, featuring TEN recipes provided by our clients!
Our cookbook will be a FREE PDF collection of easy and nutritious cozy fall recipes with ingredients we frequently distribute to our clients, such as lentils, spinach, potatoes, and eggs!
Clients in the Kitchen will include various cultural dishes such as Nasi Goreng, spinach and tofu soup, and Lubia Polo!
Sign up below to be one of the FIRST people to receive the cookbook!
Smooth Transition to our New Vancouver Location
After months of searching, we finally found a new home for our Vancouver distribution centre!
Located at 295 Terminal Ave, our new site is bright, spacious, and a 5-minute walk from the Main Street-Science World Skytrain station.
Within a week of signing the lease, our warehouse and distribution teams organized and executed a functional layout with a double food line for the 300-500 clients that we serve each day.
After a year of operating out of our Charles St. location, we would like to express our deepest thanks to LowTide Properties for gifting us that space and helping us transition to our new, permanent site.
Water Donations
From the scorching heat to the devastating wildfires, we were faced with record-breaking temperatures this summer that affected the entire province.
Just days prior to the first heatwave, we received a timely donation of over 200 pallets of bottled water from donors such as the Walmart Foundation and BlueTriton Brands. We provided bottled water to our clients, community agency partners, other Food Banks in BC, and to the City of Vancouver!
Taking care of our clients and meeting their immediate needs are very important to us, and YOU helped us do that. Thank you!
