In serving low-income and at-risk clients across our programming, food insecurity crops up frequently at Family Services of Greater Vancouver.
In our Food Program at the Directions Youth Services Drop-In Centre, we can immediately address this urgent need – with the right partners in place. That’s where Vancouver Food Runners comes in. VFR provides a weekly food drop-off, from rescued produce to pre-prepped meals.
VFR is a local organization that collects food donations from grocery stores, restaurants, hotels, urban farms, catering and meal prep companies, hand even the film industry. They connect this rescued food to the charities who work with people facing food insecurity. It’s a win-win: they enable their food donors to reduce waste and build charitable giving into their systems, and they get high-demand resources into the hands of non-profit workers. On an average day, VFR makes more than 40 deliveries, with a team of over 300 volunteers and just a handful of staff making it all possible.
At its core, VFR is building integrity into the solutions for food insecurity. Over the last four years, they’ve grown significantly, adding more food donors and charity recipients to deliver the equivalent of more than a million meals. This means that they have a strong network for both the short-term solution of getting people what they need now (meals) and for the long-term solution of advocating for policy changes that can reduce the widespread need for this kind of assistance.
“If we do it well, of course the dream is essentially to put ourselves out of business, as weird as that sounds,” says Adelyn Chan, Program Manager at VFR.
In 2023-24, we saw a 27% increase in the number of youth accessing the Drop-In Centre, an 18% increase in the number of hot meals we served, and a 23% increase in visits to our Youth Pantry. At Directions, meals are often an entry point for youth to receive support. They come in for food and we get the chance to connect. From there, we’re able to refer them to other resources, like our overnight shelter, 2SLGBTQIA+ programming, health clinic, or Financial Empowerment.
This is the urgency and importance of addressing food security – being food insecure leaves people in a constant state of just trying to get by, by any means necessary. But when a young person’s immediate needs are met, they’re able to start thinking about what’s next. We open doors to individual goal setting, giving young people a chance to thrive.
Partnerships like the one between FSGV and VFR give us the power to better serve our clients. At the intersection of food security and food waste, it’s a short-term solution, but we also see it as an opportunity to find long-term solutions. Together, we can team up to advocate for policy solutions to food insecurity and poverty. And we believe this collective, community power will transform lives right across B.C.
Rescued food is just one aspect of our Food Program. We also rely on cash donations to ensure our kitchen is staffed with passionate people and we can purchase food items to fill in any gaps in nutrition.
If you’re feeling inspired to help us open doors, please donate today