Did you know that 1 in 8 households or nearly 4.4 million Canadians across the country are food insecure?
We at Rick’s Heart Foundation were giving the opportunity by Global Medic to help bring pantry staple foods to hungry British Columbians. Community is very important to our mission at RHF, we believe that by working together, we can create a bigger impact around us. We reached out to Manitoulin Transport, and they along with Diamond Delivery graciously agreed to ship the FULL trailer load of food to five Food Banks across British Columbia! This incredible food was delivered in early May 2023, which will feed over 100,000 British Columbians.
Where did this food come from? Global Medic’s McAntony’s Menu is the domestic version of our food program. It was designed to complement and support local food bank systems who serve the 1 in 8 families in Canada who are food insecure. McAntony’s Menu is a part of The Grassroots Revolution. The effect of food insecurity is immense, causing increased risk of poor mental and physical health. Food insecure households can have healthcare costs up to 121% higher compared to those who are food secure. Families often have to make the decision to skip meals in order to pay for rent, phone bills and transportation.
This program mobilizes volunteers and our existing supply chains in order to create 500g bags of pantry staples like rice, lentils and kidney beans. Volunteers fill these individual bags with food from large 50 lb bags. These bags are boxed up and then delivered to food banks and other support programs to support their clients. Donating food in this way allows us to give a 500g bag of food to a family for a third to a quarter of the retail price. Because we make bulk orders of products in large sizes, we make the most of our buying power. Utilizing volunteers allows the cost of creating this product to remain so low.
“Volunteers don’t get paid, not because they’re worthless, but because they’re priceless.” ~ Sherry Anderson
This partnership supported five food bank partners across BC:
– Lake Country Food Bank (Okanagan)
– Yarrow Food Hub
– White Rock/South Surrey Food Bank
– Whistler Food Bank
– Capital Region Food Share Network (Victoria)
• Six McAntony’s Menu ingredients; rice, pearled barley, red lentils, green lentils. chickpeas and green peas
• 1,688 boxes of food were donated, for a total of 18,396.8 kg of food. This will serve thousands of families throughout the province
• As well as 889 hygiene items
There is something innately powerful about community collaboration. The pooling of resources, sharing of knowledge, and networking that elevates the community as a whole. This week we received a truck load of evidence backing just that.
Thanks, in no small part to the passionate networking and collaboration of Rick’s Heart Foundation we (the Capital Region Food Share Network) were connected with Global Medic who have gifted us 10 pallets of shelf stable food from their McAnthony’s Menu program. The community collaboration didn’t stop there, Rick’s Heart Foundation reached out to their contacts at Manitoulin Transport and Diamond Delivery to secure free shipping of this incredible donation all the way from Ontario! From there the Mustard Seed stepped up to store and distribute to food to members of our Network via their Food Security Distribution Centre in Esquimalt.
At a time when community need is greater than ever, we could not be more grateful. Thank you for your care, your support, and your ongoing commitment to work together toward a food secure future 🧡
~ Kara Udell, Capital Region Food Share Network
A huge Thank you to Global MEdic and Manitoulin Transport
“There is immense power when a group of people with similar interests gets together to work toward the same goals.”
~ Idowu Koyenikan
