Greater Vancouver Food Bank
On the first weekend in January 2012, the Community Outreach Events Committee of the Vancouver Board of Trade's Leaders of Tomorrow (LOT) program headed to the warehouse of the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society to help those in need this New Year. The team was joined by several members of the Boards Company of Young Professionals (CYP) Program and coordinated by Sebastian Bubrick. Volunteers had the daunting task of helping the Food Bank's massive inventory of food donations, of which 80% are collected during the months of December and January.
The challenge was taken on by the team early Saturday when the streets were clear and the skies were not. One by one, members arrived to the East Vancouver warehouse located across Strathcona Park that chilly morning.
Amy Weeks with the organization welcomed the team and trained them in the fascinating logistics of sorting various donations that come in. Many of the things were quite counterintuitive in nature. For example, the Food Bank welcomes donations of diapers and an entire station is dedicated to the repackaging and sorting of baby diapers for needy families. Dry pasta and starch products must be separated from the macaroni and cheese boxes; all oversized food is separated from their individually packaged counterparts. Canned pasta sauce is completely different from jarred pasta sauce. Dried soup mix is different from crystal juice powders. And lastly, make sure that innocent-looking canned tuna is not actually pet food!
The variety of donations is both a blessing and a curse at the Food Bank. Community kitchens, neighborhood houses, and families appreciate receiving different baskets of goods, but it also requires many teams of volunteers to help tackle the never-ending flow of boxes filled with food donations during the peak season. The Christmas holiday is a popular time to give, and the months after are when volunteers are needed the most to help sort donations.
The LOT Committee collectively helped impacted the lives of over 1,000 BC families, in what will become an annual tradition. Together, numerous carts filled with food with carefully classified and stored to be ready for delivery. Members were also joined by several members of the Boards Company of Young Professional (CYP) Program. The team included Manny Alamwala, Candice Ashe, Sebastian Bubrick, Kathryn Carrington, Jennifer Hart, Kristopher Hermkens, Doris Ho, Kuan Ho, Anna LeGood, Jeff McLeod, Helen Mui, Austin Nairn, Bonnie Tam, Christine Tarves, Victor Tsang, Keith Van, Gopi Virk, Erik Wilting, Tim Wong, and Amy Yeung. The Leaders of Tomorrow would like to thank Amy Weeks in particular for her tremendous effort in making this event a success and the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society for their ongoing mission in helping feed those in need.