Good food for everyone — that's it.
Nourish BC Food Network has been connecting Metro Vancouver neighbours with nutritious food since 2007. We started small. We stayed humble. And we kept showing up every single week.
Started in a Church Basement. Still Here.
In the fall of 2007, a small group of Burnaby residents noticed something changing in their neighbourhood. The 2008 financial crisis was already casting a shadow — jobs were disappearing, rents were climbing, and families who had always managed were suddenly struggling to put food on the table.
Eight neighbours, most of them with no nonprofit experience, decided to do something simple: pack food hampers and hand them out on Tuesday evenings from the basement of a local church on Kingsway. The first week, they made forty hampers. The line stretched to the parking lot.
That was the beginning of Nourish BC.
Over the next seventeen years, we grew quietly and deliberately — adding a second location, then a third, launching the Community Kitchen program so that food became about more than survival, and eventually putting a refrigerated truck on the road every Thursday. Today, we serve over 2,400 families a month across Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley. We have a small paid staff and over 120 volunteers who show up every week because they believe, as we do, that access to good food is not a privilege. It's a right.
We haven't forgotten where we started. That church basement taught us everything we know about what dignity looks like when you're handing someone a box of groceries.
Why We Do This
Nourish BC Food Network exists to ensure that everyone in Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley has reliable, dignified access to nutritious food — regardless of income, status, or circumstance.
Dignity
Food support should never feel shameful. We design every interaction — from the layout of our pickup spaces to the way our volunteers greet people — to feel welcoming and respectful. No one should have to explain themselves to eat.
Access
We actively work to remove barriers. No ID, no proof of income, no referrals. Multiple locations. A mobile truck that comes to people. Multilingual support. We meet people where they are.
Community
Food is connection. The Community Kitchen exists because eating together matters. Volunteers who've been coming for years aren't just helping — they're part of something. We build those relationships intentionally.
Sustainability
82% of what we distribute is fresh produce and proteins. We rescue food before it hits landfills. We partner with local farms. We think seriously about what it means to nourish people and communities for the long term.
The Numbers Behind Our Mission
Every meal matters. Here's what the Nourish BC community has accomplished together since 2007.
The People Who Make It Happen
A small, committed staff team — and 120+ volunteers behind them.
12 years in community food systems. Previously with FoodMesh, where she built the Lower Mainland's largest food rescue network before joining Nourish BC in 2018.
Former chef who found his calling in feeding communities rather than restaurants. Marcus runs the Community Kitchen program and oversees hamper content quality across all three locations.
Connects 120+ volunteers to the right roles — matching schedules, skills, and personalities to where they're needed most. Amina's the reason volunteers stick around for years.
Keeps the Thursday route running on time across 8 stops, rain or shine. Trevor knows every neighbourhood on the route — and most of the regulars by name.