24 Apr This Stop Food Waste Day, see how Fresh St. Market Langley uses its unsold food to support local residents
In the heart of Langley, Salvation Army Gateway of Hope is one of the only shelters in the area providing a refuge to the increasing number of community members struggling with addiction, mental illnesses and homelessness.
The shelter operates twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, providing an emergency place to stay for 32 guests and a relief center for 25 more, with additional capacity during inclement weather. As well as providing a roof over its guests’ heads, the shelter offers them food, hot showers and support as well.
“We’ve seen homelessness grow exponentially in recent years – especially during the pandemic. We also see a lot of seniors who have retired and been priced out of their homes,” Rachel Martin, the shelter’s Volunteer Coordinator explains. “Guests are coming from all over Canada. People travel from different provinces and end up here.”
Thanks in part to donations it receives from its local Fresh St. Market store three times a week, Salvation Army Gateway of Hope is able to offer three meals a day and snacks to its guests. It also provides lunch to local residents facing food insecurity – serving up to 400 meals in total every day.
The donations consist of a wide variety of quality fresh produce, dairy, meat and seafood, bakery items and even sushi – food it can no longer sell, either because it is close to its peak freshness date or has aesthetic imperfection – but is still perfectly good to eat.
“We go through 30 loaves of bread a day. If this bread wasn’t being donated, we’d have to buy it ourselves,” Rachel explains. “If we had to purchase everything we use for meals, we wouldn’t be able to keep the facility going. It would really limit what we could do. This is a really important partnership to us.”
The shelter’s team of volunteers turn the donations into a wide variety of hearty and nutritious meals for its guests, ranging from classic soup and sandwiches to more elaborate options like butter chicken, fish and chips and burgers. Any donations that are no longer suitable for meals are shared with local farmers to feed their animals.
“I’ve seen firsthand with my clients the difference this can make,” says Rachel. “Our guests don’t have to be hungry because of partners like Fresh St. Market, whose donations let us do the work we have to do.”
Written by Megan Czerpak, Head of Communications
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