VANCOUVER FOOD RUNNERS

Food Rescue Heroes

There are heroes in our midst who are making a substantial impact on local food insecurity. These heroes are rescuing and donating food that would otherwise be heading to the landfill and instead are delivering it directly to those in need.

Vancouver Food Runners is a relatively new non-profit organization that launched in March 2020. Its inception coincided with the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has led to an increase in poverty and food insecurity. The food drops were, and continue to be, in high demand.

When Tristan Jagger, the founder of Vancouver Food Runners, learned about the number of children going hungry in our province (one in six children in British Columbia are food insecure) she knew she had to do something about it. She says, “This was the driving force behind Vancouver Food Runners, and it grew from there.”

She started researching programs to address food insecurity and became interested in the Food Rescue Hero app developed by 412 Food Rescue in Pittsburgh. This pilot project spread to 13 other cities across the United States.

Tristan decided to bring this innovative app technology to Vancouver and launched Vancouver Food Runners to bridge the disconnect between surplus food and hunger in Vancouver.

Vancouver is the first city in Canada to use the Food Rescue Hero app.

Forty per cent of food is wasted or lost, while one in nine households in British Columbia experiences food insecurity. Vancouver Food Runners aims to prevent perfectly good food from entering the waste stream – where it will negatively harm our environment – and instead redirect it to Vancouver non-profits that work with the most vulnerable members of our community.

Both Tristan and Vancouver Food Runners’ executive director Michelle Reining grew up in Kerrisdale and Michelle continues to call the neighbourhood home. Michelle works alongside volunteer manager Alison Scarlett, program manager Chloe Leslie, and program coordinator Kaum Kulatilake. Tristan is one of five board members including Debbie Butt, Wendy J. Harris, Debra von Mandl, and David Jagger.

To achieve its mission, the organization works in partnership with financial supporters, including United Way of the Lower Mainland, the City of Vancouver (Greenest City Grant), Seedlings Foundation, and Pan American Silver.

Volunteer drivers collect surplus food from food donor partners and take it directly to nearby non-profit partners.

A staff member matches food donations with charities. From there, the app sends notifications to volunteers who “claim” the rescue and then collect and drop off the food to charities, including Covenant House and CityReach Care Society.

Food donor partners range from large produce distributors to smaller specialty stores, restaurants, bakeries, and caterers. They even collect from university campuses and farms. Vancouver Food Runners also partners with food banks to distribute fresh food such as boxes of fruit on their behalf.

Andrea McDonald has been volunteering for almost a year and a half. She first learned about Vancouver Food Runners from Michelle Reining who is her friend and neighbour.

Andrea says, “In the early days of the COVID lockdown, Michelle and Tristan spent their days hustling to local restaurants, grocery stores, and bakeries picking up and tirelessly delivering fresh food and produce to social service partners in a time of incredible and unpredictable need.”

She adds, “It’s been both an eye-opening and rewarding experience. There’s so much need for healthy food in our local communities. What I love about VFR is the ease and flexibility of volunteering. The app allows me to claim rescues that fit into my schedule, which changes week to week. I feel like we are only getting started. There has been incredible support from local businesses who have food to donate and great enthusiasm from those in the community wanting to get involved as a Food Rescue Hero.”

To date, 805,000 pounds of food have been rescued, which is equivalent to 670,833 meals.

Kerrisdale’s COBS Bread has been a food donor since Vancouver Food Runner’s inception.

COBS franchisee Danny Goepel says, “We are very proud to have been one of the first businesses to align with Vancouver Food Runners. For 15 years we have donated daily all our unsold goods to various charities throughout the city, in hopes of offering food security to those in need. Vancouver Food Runners was a perfect fit for us, and it’s been amazing to watch their growth.”

Similarly, Sarah Artuso, owner of Moore’s Bakery, began actively supporting Vancouver Food Runners in March 2020.

She says, “We make weekly donations of surplus baked goods. Every Friday, without fail, a food runner arrives at 1:00 p.m. to pick up two to three trays of bread and a tray of muffins. VFR is an amazing organization that makes getting food to those in need from our business so easy!”

Since March 2020, 140 food donors and 85 community partners have joined Vancouver Food Runners and 1,350 volunteers have registered on the app.

Vancouver Food Runners is always looking for more volunteers from Kerrisdale and other areas of the city.

“Never in a million years did I think Vancouver Food Runners would grow so quickly. It’s exhilarating to fill up a car with perfectly good food that would have been thrown in our landfills,” says Tristan.

Vancouver Food Runners,303-2912 W. Broadway Vancouver, BC V6K 2M5 Telephone 236-471-4728 info@vancouverfoodrunners.com Charity number: 769422676 RR0001

www.vancouverfoodrunners.com