19. South Vancouver Neighbourhood House: South Vancouver Community Food Hub’s Healthy Food Engagement

Organization Information

Organization Name

South Vancouver Neighbourhood House

Mission and Vision of Organization

Vision

Everyone in South Vancouver lives in a healthy and engaged community.

Mission

SVNH plays a leadership role in building healthy and engaged neighbourhoods in South Vancouver by connecting people and strengthening their capacity to create change

Guiding Principles + Values

Our Diversity and Inclusion Statement

• We are diverse individuals of all ages, colours, ethnicities, nationalities, faiths and beliefs, cultures, abilities, socioeconomic and education levels, sexual orientations and gender identities.
• We communicate in many languages.
• We value and celebrate diversity and inclusion.
• We define diversity broadly and encompass many individual attributes.
• We create an environment that actively embraces diversity and inclusion by recognizing the value in the uniqueness of all individuals.
• We strive to reflect the diversity of our neighbourhoods in our membership, our Community Boards, our volunteers and our staff.
• We respect all neighbours.
• We expect that all who come to our neighbourhood houses and camps, all those who provide or receive services, will extend the same respect to all.
• We acknowledge that we live, work, and play on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of the Coast Salish peoples.

Our Food Hub and Spoke Values

• Respect and Dignity
• Care
• Culturally-appropriate
• Equity
• Hand up, not a hand out

Contact Information

• Primary Contact Person(s): Joey Liu (she/her)
• Email: [[1]]
• Phone: 604-324-6212
• Address: 282 West 49th Avenue
• Website: www.southvan.org

Preferred Method of Contact

• Best method(s) to contact: Email
• Best day(s) to contact: Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays
• Best time(s) to contact: Afternoons

Preferred Platform(s) for Remote Collaboration

• In person
• Email
• Zoom
• MicrosoftOverview Teams

Project Description

Context: What challenge or issue does the project aim to address?

Food insecurity, social isolation and inequitable access to support and community are issues that face South Vancouver residents. Food assets and programs are fewer and far between in South Vancouver which is comprised of the Sunset, Victoria-Fraserview and Killarney neighbourhoods, and home to over 100,000 people and majority racialized and newcomer households. Language and cultural barriers are substantial, which makes providing supports that are community-driven challenging.

South Vancouver Neighborhood House has established the South Vancouver Community Food Hub located at the Langara YMCA. We are currently operating a community food distribution program for residents across 7 locations, working our 'spoke' partners from other agencies. We strive to provide the most accessible, culturally appropriate services for all our neighbors. The goal of the Food Hub and Spoke model is to meet immediate food security needs while also developing neighbourhood specific community hubs and long term food security strategies.

This winter, we would like to enhance our food rescue operations and do some engagement/education to best support our partners, donors and community members to understand and engage in our healthy food policy. As part of our food procurement, we accept a bi-weekly shipment of food from grocery stores that need to be sorted and distributed. We would like to create a best before date guide so people can be informed, and also food storage tips so less food is wasted once it gets home. We would also like to create a poster so individual and organizational donors can see what our wishlist items are, and have this resource be the start of a conversation around providing quality, nutritious food to people who need food support.

Main Project Activities and Deliverables

• Creating resources: best before guide, food storage tips, donation wishlist (for donors)
• The design(s) should align with SVNH branding
• A bit of research will be needed to look up BBD guidelines and food storage tips
• Ideally we would love a couple of the students to come help out with our food rescue volunteer shift or come for a tour, so they can get an idea of what we offer and what we can educate people about. Based on this research, we can also use this information to improve some of our internal operations
• Help translate the three resources into various languages if possible (Mandarin, Cantonese, Tagalog, Arabic, Korean, Punjabi)

Student Assets and Skills (preferred or required)

• Language skills, cross-cultural communication and understanding of equity issues in racialized communities.
• Interest/experience in cooking, food safety, nutrition, food rescue.
• Design/Canva skills

Are there any mandatory attendance dates (e.g. special event)?

• n/a

Will the project take place online, in person, or a combination?

• Online and in person

Is a criminal record search (CRS) required?

• No

Related Community Service Opportunities for Students

• Again we invite the students to participate in our Food Hub activities and volunteer shifts if possible at the beginning of the project, so they can immerse themselves in our program and understand what type of food we offer and want to offer.
• The food rescue shift date is to be confirmed, but it would be on a Thursday afternoon from 12-3pm.
• We also have other shifts on Mondays 9:30-11:30am, Wed 12-2pm, and Friday 9:30-1:30pm.
• For students who can come volunteer, we just need proof of vaccination as the Langara YMCA (where our Food Hub is located) requires proof.

Required Reading

Project/Partner Orientation Materials

Students should review these materials prior to the first partner meeting:

• Review our website for program information: www.southvan.org

Additional Project/Partner Orientation Materials

The following will be provided at the first community partner meeting:

• Orientation session (in person or online)
• Detailed map of program activities across South Vancouver
• Program slideshow