What started out as a simple phone call from Jason Longden, CEO of Fine Choice Foods, to Rick Gibbs, chair of BC Food & Beverage, has turned into an industry initiative to help those in need.
Longden’s call to find out where he could donate a large volume of excess bulk product quickly became a movement to provide immediate relief to those who desperately need help. The COVID-inspired initiative connects BC Food & Beverage members to local community organizations that are seeing a dramatic influx of families and individuals in need.
Feed The Need is an industrial-sized pop up food donation drive-thru scheduled to take place on Thursday, April 23 from 7:30 a.m. to noon at Neutron Factory Works head office on Annacis Island in Delta. It will allow community organizations to arrive with their trucks to pick up a pre-arranged allotment of bulk products.
This initiative will include 24 pallets of food in a donated 50-foot refrigerated truck which will help feed between 1,500 and 2,000 families across 30 community organizations. The products will be loaded with help from Delta police and volunteers.
The food donated will include a variety of products from local food manufacturers, including Fine Choice Foods, Garden Protein, Freybe Gourmet Foods, Big Mountain Foods, Justgo Smoothies and Fresh Direct Produce. Other organizations involved include Tango Express Trucking, which has donated a 50-foot refrigerated trailer, and Gourmet Chef, which donated a five-ton refrigerated truck and driver to make deliveries to those organizations unable to drive to the event.
“The last thing any person should be worrying about right now is where to get their next meal,” said Gibbs. “When Jason called and asked how we could be doing more in the community to give people access to nutritious food, we had to get involved, so #FeedtheNeed was born.”
“I’ve spent my entire career in the food production sector and during any crisis, our most vulnerable citizens are the most impacted,” said Longden. “It’s amazing what we can accomplish by coming together, leveraging our networks and being genuinely compassionate for our neighbours who need help. We are in uncharted waters right now; these times require immediate swift and effective action”.
“Anything we can do to help right now, we will. Our communities are taking the hardest hit right now, we need to come together at times like this,” said Brian Macdonald, owner of Tango Express Trucking.
