A charity dedicated to redirecting food to nonprofits has expanded into Richmond, and they're hoping more local food businesses will sign up to donate food surpluses.
Using app technology and volunteer drivers, Vancouver Food Runners (VFR) has been helping redirect surplus food from around 170 food businesses to about 130 nonprofits across Metro Vancouver.
Originally based in Vancouver, VFR expanded into Richmond, Burnaby, Delta and the North Shore earlier this year.
The model is akin to food delivery apps such as UberEats and DoorDash — when a food supplier donates surplus food, VFR matches it with a nonprofit partner and a volunteer claims the food rescue in the app. The volunteer will then collect and deliver the donation to the assigned nonprofit.
The program has scaled by more than 47 per cent due to "huge demand" from non-profits and food businesses, according to Michelle Reining, executive director of VFR.
More food businesses needed
VFR is currently partnered up with seven Richmond nonprofits including Gogivers Foundation, Heart of Richmond AIDS Society, Richmond Family Place, Pathways Clubhouse, Storeys Residence and St. Alban's Anglican Church.
To make sure food donations are not too far from the nonprofits, the charity is inviting more Richmond businesses to sign up as donors.
"We do have food businesses based in Vancouver, but... we don't want to put more cars on the road to redirect donations," explained Reining.
"What we'd like to do is to make sure that a business and a nonprofit are only about 10 minutes apart."
Any food business across the sector can participate, including farms, hotels, restaurants and bakeries, she added.
In fact, Vancouver International Airport (YVR) was one of VFR's recent donors.
"Just given the need in Richmond and the interest there for nonprofits to be receiving donations, it would be incredible for Richmond food businesses to get involved in our program," said Reining.
More than 49 per cent of the food delivered by VFR is produce, a "highly valued" donation, and the flexibility of the charity's model allows volunteers to move fresh food quickly.
"We want to get businesses involved in general. Across Canada, 58 per cent of food is wasted across the food supply chain... and 30 to 32 per cent of that food is still edible," said Reining.
"So if it's being thrown away, and it's going to the landfill, that's creating methane. So that's a huge environmental challenge."
By intervening and redirecting the food, VFR hopes to lower the environmental impact of food waste and reduce spending on food for nonprofits.
"Our program is free for food businesses to get involved and it makes redirecting their surplus food incredibly easy," said Reining.
The charity is also looking for more volunteers to join the 50 Richmondites currently signed up on the app.
“Vancouver Food Runners volunteers have an extremely high impact,” said Tristan Jagger, founder of VFR.
“The average volunteer food rescue takes just one hour and results in approximately $570 in food donated, or the equivalent of 150 meals.”
VFR has redirected more than 2.7 million pounds of surplus food since March 2020. According to its website, volunteers delivered 835,915 pounds of food, equivalent to 696,595 meals, last year.
Local businesses interested in donating extra food can contact VFR through an online form or call 236-471-4278. There is a two-box minimum for collection and all services are free of charge.
Volunteers are available to collect food anytime between 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Monday to Friday.
Community members interested in volunteering can download the Vancouver Food Runners app, available on iOS and Android, and sign up.
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