Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society

The Greater Vancouver Food Bank was set up as temporary relief to the hunger crisis in 1982 and has grown significantly in the three decades since then. We are fortunate to have been able to build many relationships over this period that we greatly respect and honour. Today the GVFB provides assistance to over 27,000 people weekly, 22% of our members are children, 22% are seniors. The needs of this community are met through multiple distribution locations, community kitchens, training workshops and partnerships with more than 80 community agencies located in Vancouver, Burnaby, New Westminster and North Vancouver. To this end the GVFB receives, purchases and distributes approximately 4.4 million pounds of food each year. Because of this size, scale and our unique position in the local food system, the GVFB has significantly greater buying power than can be achieved at the grocery store and can purchase as much as $3 worth of food for every $1 donated, maximizing the impact of our donor’s generous contributions. While we continue to provide assistance to help address the immediate needs of the community, we also recognize that emergency food as a stand-alone is not a long-term solution. In 2013, we completed the organization’s first strategic plan and are moving beyond food in isolation into a model that helps foster a path towards self-sufficiency. This is a model rooted in education, empowerment and sustainability.