#BEINGHUNGRYSUCKS2024
With the triumphant return of our beloved Plenty of Plates this year, our Recovery Program diverting more food than ever, and our Daily Meal Program hitting new heights, we’re very happy to report that in 2022 we produced more meals than ever before.
Those meals meant more of our city’s most marginalised folks were equipped to pursue their journey towards upward mobility. We were able to provide more food to families, giving them the ability to focus on other life essentials. And we were able to bring more smiling faces together over a meal made with love and care than ever. All in a time when it is needed more than ever.
Virtually every single meal ABLF produces, is part of a recurring schedule that the people we serve can depend on. It goes beyond nourishment in the moment and adds dependable, consistent support designed with intent to pick folks up when they stumble and continue to propel them when they’re in stride.
This year, we’re asking you to consider making a monthly donation. That guaranteed scheduled support provides the stability to not just sustain, but grow our critical programming and continue to make a difference in the lives of the people we serve, and ensure that 2023 is even more impactful than this year.
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 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.
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.
