#BEINGHUNGRYSUCKS
When we start with food security, we can start to heal our communities. 7 days a week, 365 days a year, we cook thousands of dignified meals. This food nourishes more than just a basic human right to satisfy hunger. Scratch-made recipes and meals cooked from the heart are a conduit to convene change makers, create radical spaces of inclusion and innovate community-forward programming that prioritizes sustainable environmental practices. In short, we make good, honest food that helps our community – both through stability, nutrition and sustainability.
Through food, we have met the many wonderful faces that make up our special network of friends, family and supporters. Through food, we are able to show our community how much we care. This food is where we begin to help break the cycle of poverty at home in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and beyond as we expand across North America.
Isolation impacts our community heavily. Plenty of Plates is a program that offered a way to bring joy through human connection to the people of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside through the power of food. Volunteer teams raise funds to support an evening where they prepare, cooke, and serve a safe, sit-down, 3-course meal to neighbourhood residents who had been invited in to enjoy a restaurant dining experience.
This program breaks barriers, biases, and creates moments of connection between individuals who might otherwise never interact with each other. These moments inspire empathy and offered a real, hands-on way to touch and feel social impact while creating lasting bonds, insights and memories with volunteer team members. We are grateful for the connections and moments we shared in these spaces.
When we’re hungry, it’s hard to focus on anything else.
Vancouver’s winter months (we see you rainfall warning!) can be challenging, and our Vancouver, Downtown Eastside community is hungrier than ever; need has never been more visible, and a call to action has never been more clear. “Being Hungry Sucks” is a fundraiser that creates happier, healthier communities by raising critical funds to support food- first programming throughout 2022.
This year we have cooked up some easy and exciting ways for you to support. Click through the options to check them out.
ABLF connects individuals in the kitchen, at the table and in the community. We exist at an intersection of everyday advocacy and culinary expertise. Taking action from a place of empathy, our programming initiatives champion training, education, environmental sustainability and practice inclusive hiring around food systems.
