800,000 pounds of food redistributed to those in need by Vancouver non-profit

A Metro Vancouver non-profit is using an app to rescue food and help tackle food insecurity, an issue that has been exacerbated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Since launching in March of 2020, Vancouver Food Runners has successfully redistributed over 800,000 pounds of food and now as they hope to expand, they’re looking for more volunteers and donors to join and help make it happen.

It doesn’t take up a lot of volunteer Azizah Rajwani’s time.

“Each rescue will take you anywhere from half an hour to an hour," Rajwani said.

But in a short amount of time, the impact is profound.

“We ended up redistributing 235,000 pounds of food last year,” said Michelle Reining, executive director of Vancouver Food Runners.

Surplus food from participating businesses is packed up, picked up by volunteers.

“We don’t know until the end of the day what kind of surplus food we have and so sometimes the food doesn’t get to a place that’s meaningful and with food runners, it makes it really easy for us to repurpose it,” said Meghan Clarke, co-founder of Tractor Foods.

The food is then dropped off nearby to a community partner.

“The time between the food donors and the community partner is generally less than 10 minutes,” said Reining.

The process to sign up as a volunteer and start rescuing food is all done through the Vancouver Food Runners app.

“Once you open the app there’s a list of rescues that are available and you just look at the ones at different times and different places that are convenient for you,” said Rajwani.

Volunteers act as delivery drivers, taking donated food that might otherwise end up in the dump to where it instead will be used instead of wasted.

“We serve our community 100 meals every day,” said May Kwan, manager of YWCA Crab Tree Corner Community Centre,

Receiving rescued food has allowed the Crab Tree Corner Community Centre to provide food hampers. The centre operates on the Downtown Eastside helping single mothers in the community and other vulnerable groups.

“Single older adults on fixed income come to us as well we also serve families who are newcomers to Canada so immigrant and also migrant workers so all of the folk that are on the high barrier low-income level of Vancouver,” said Kwan.

Using tech to redirect food was an idea launched in March of 2020 when Vancouver Food Runners formed to respond to an existing issue made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The rising cost of food right now is difficult during the pandemic,” said Reining.

Food insecurity was an issue one in nine households in B.C. experienced and now that number has risen to one in seven said Reining.

“The need in our community in Vancouver is urgent at this time,” said Reining.

With demand soaring, so is the need for volunteers and more community partners to come on board.

“We really want to see food recovery become normalized within the food industry in Vancouver,” said Reining.

Vancouver Food Runners is only serving Vancouver right now but even with the limited service area are responsible for redistributing over 800,000 pounds of food since 2020.

“Whether it is poverty reduction work or violence against women we want to see these deeper systemic issues being addressed and the food that we bring supports our community partners that are doing the deeper work,” said Reining.

The goal for 2022 is to expand first into Richmond and also to the North Shore. The organization hopes their simple app-based technology method of doing things will help make that dream a reality.

“A lot of food businesses have extra food and right now they don’t really know where to distribute that food to,” said Reining.