Gerry Glazier introduced our speaker, Terra Paredes, Manager, Community Events and Engagement for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank (GVFB). Gerry met Terra a couple of months ago when we presented the Rotary donation in answer to the Mayors’ Challenge. Rotary raised over $11K, of which $8K came from our club.
Terra has been with food bank since 2019. Prior to that she worked with Country FM for 15 years, one of her responsibilities being the Basics for Babies Charity. When she joined the food bank, she thought she knew a fair bit about it but realized quickly that there was so much she did not know. The current CEO, David Long, has a strong vision for the GVFB. He is a classically trained chef who moved to a CEO role in 2005 at the Terminal City Club. He held that role until 2010 during which time he led them through a $6 million renovation in preparation for the 2010 Olympics.
The GVFB was founded in 1983. It’s mission statement: Providing healthy food to those in need. Its vision: Healthy communities through fair and effective food systems.
As David Long states, “We do not have a lack of food in this province. We have a food distribution problem.” There is a large problem for a section of Canada’s population in accessing enough affordable, healthy food. Looking at some of the numbers:
- In Canada:
- 14% of all Canadians face food insecurity; 17% of Canadian children, and 15% of Canadian seniors
- In British Columbia:
- 16% of all British Columbians; 19% of BC children, and 15% of BC seniors
- In Vancouver:
- 19% of Vancouverites; 20% of Vancouver children, and 21% of Vancouver seniors
Covid has had a massive impact on what the GVFB does and how they do it. Pre-covid they had 14 direct distribution locations, this reduced down to 4. They used a shopping model, where clients could come in and browse to pick up what they need. This changed to a pre-bagged model. Pre-covid they worked with 74 community agency partners, this grew to 115 community agency partners. In addition covid say them receive the first ever government funding.
The model the GVFB used pre-covid was not very efficient, was very labour intensive and time consuming. They had to examine how best to meet their objectives in getting food to the approximately 8,500 people they feed each month in the cities they cover, North Shore (North & West Van), Vancouver, Burnaby, and New Westminster.
The model changed allowed the expansion of their community agency partners by 19, and they reduced their distribution locations to 4, one in each of the cities they serve. With the government funding they have been able to open two new Vancouver warehouses.
Indirect distribution sites, the 115 community agency partnerships, e.g. senior centres, schools, housing options, have programs of their own to feed those in need. The GVFB provides food for these partners that they can then distribute, supporting approx. 16,000 visits to their locations each month.
With their new warehouses that have extensive refrigeration capacity, the GVFB is able to focus on fresh food – fruits, vegetables, milk, eggs, protein, etc. One of the complaints they regularly received was that the food given out was of low quality and not nutritious enough. The 400% increase in refrigeration capacity has helped to greatly improve the quality of food distributed.
They have put in place some speciality nutrition programs:
- Baby steps (0-12 months old),
- Baby steps (13 to 24 months old),
- Preschooler pack (2-5 years),
- Grade schooler pack (6-12 years), and
- A new seniors program
Operations:
- There is an outside section, located under an overhead, where they set up for food pick up from their clients.
- Inside the warehouse is huge! This is where volunteers sort through donations for storage.
- They have 6 trucks, all refrigerated to transport food to communities. The trucks are also used to help communities outside of their normal area of service, e.g., Lytton after they suffered severe fires.
The GVFB’s operations include the Thornton St. CAP Market, a huge refrigeration facility, where community agencies pick up their supplies. 60% of the community agency partners are in Vancouver. The Terminal Ave. distribution site that opened last month, is Vancouver’s only direct distribution site. 60% of the GVFB’s direct clients are in Vancouver.
They have 45 paid staff, casual, part-time, and full-time, and 46 full time volunteers. The GVFB is listed as one of Canada’s top 100 employers, paying a living wage.
They receive tons of food donations. 40% of which donated through food drives and private donations is wasted due to expiry dates, best before dates, damaged and open packaging. As another example of the work they do, they recently sent 40,000 lbs of food out to their agencies and clients in a single day. Yes, donations are important, however they need dollars to continue their work. With cash the GVFB has at least twice the normal populations buying power. In addition, they need cash to cover costs other than the food, such as truck purchase and maintenance, maintenance of physical locations, and staff salaries, etc.
Some may be under the belief that food banks are a national program. This is not at all the case. There are two umbrellas that the food banks fall under: Food Banks Canada that oversees all of the provincial organizations. Then the provincial Food Banks, i.e., the BC Food Banks that has 100 food banks under it.
There are some clients who may take advantage of the system but to ensure that the barriers to receive food is minimal. Food banks do require clients to register and to disclose where their income comes from based on tax reports. To ensure the majority who need it are not discriminated against, the honour system is used. The only requirement they have, is for clients to behave appropriately and respectfully while using their services, else they risk being suspended.
It is important to understand that food banks are filling a need, the need for food security, a stop gap measure. They are not a solution to the underlying problems of poverty, etc. Problems that it is the role of governments to address. Food banks allow clients to use the system as long as they need it, there is no time limit that expires.
Currently the GVFB is not partnered with community organizations who can provide their clients with skills that may help life them out of the cycle of poverty, including the lack of food security. Pre-covid, the GVFB leadership was starting to develop those connections, bringing in other organizations that can help support the food bank clients. Covid put a stop to these efforts, even if temporarily. The first step will be to find out the specific needs of their clients so they can start building valuable, and helpful, connections as an added service. That said it is not the mandate of the GVFB to do anything but provide food to those who need it whenever they need it.
To wrap up, where does the GVFB go from here?
- They will continue to focus on the nutrition of all of their clients.
- They will continue to increase and develop local partnerships to improve distribution.
- They will grow their industry partnership to improve food quality.
- They will increase the level and frequency of assistance they can offer to other food banks.
- They will create and manage the Provincial Food Hubs that will connect all food banks to each other and offer consistent service and quality to all in BC.
