VANCOUVER FOOD RUNNERS: Food Rescue Heroes Story by Sarah Gordon
Photos submitted
There are heroes in our midst who are making a substantial impact on local food insecurity. These heroes are rescuing and donating food that would otherwise be heading to the landfill and instead are delivering it directly to those in need. Vancouver Food Runners is a relatively new non-profit organization that launched in March 2020. Its inception coincided with the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has led to an increase in poverty and food insecurity. The food drops were, and continue to be, in high demand. When Tristan Jagger, the founder of Vancouver Food Runners, learned about the number of children going hungry in our province (one in six children in British Columbia are food insecure) she knew she had to do something about it. She says, “This was the driving force behind Vancouver Food Runners, and it grew from there.” 16
She started researching programs to address food insecurity and became interested in the Food Rescue Hero app developed by 412 Food Rescue in Pittsburgh. This pilot project spread to 13 other cities across the United States. Tristan decided to bring this innovative app technology to Vancouver and launched Vancouver Food Runners to bridge the disconnect between surplus food and hunger in Vancouver.
Vancouver is the first city in Canada to use the Food Rescue Hero app. Forty per cent of food is wasted or lost, while one in nine households in British Columbia experiences food insecurity. Vancouver Food Runners aims to prevent perfectly good food from entering the waste stream – where it will
November 15, 2021 - February 15, 2022
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