At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, many seniors in Vancouver struggled to access food. With the lockdown measures in place and the increased risk of exposure to the virus, many older individuals were unable to leave their homes to go grocery shopping or access meal delivery services. This left many seniors relying on family and friends to bring them food or struggling to find other sources of nutrition.
To address this issue, we partnered with the Asian Canadian Benevolent Association for the Elder, community organizations and volunteers to step up and help seniors access food. We set up in the parking lot of Pink Pearl Chinese Restaurant and handed out hundreds of food hampers with the support of Dan-D Foods, Safeway, Save on Foods, the Salvation Army, UGM, Foodrescue, Gateway Gourmet, the Food Bank, and of course the Pink Pearl Restaurant.
Despite these efforts, however, many seniors continued to face challenges in accessing food. This one-time effort does not address the long term needs. In accordance with our model, the foundation continued to work with the Asian Canadian Benevolent Association (ACBA), Dan-D Foods, and other organizations to provide and distribute food hampers every Saturday morning in front of the ACBA office on Dunlevy Avenue.
This work is ongoing to this day, with volunteers collecting, sorting, packaging, distributing, and delivering food hampers to those in need, including the homeless, regardless of the weather conditions. Our goal is to address the long-term needs of seniors and other vulnerable members of the community.
