COVID - 19 UPDATE:

These last few months have definitely brought a lot of change to A Loving Spoonful and we are helping even more people in the community!

We continue to deliver meals and groceries each and every week to our Spoonful clients (at maximum capacity for our services), and in addition we are providing meals and extra groceries and snacks to low income housing buildings that help vulnerable people such as: seniors, women and children in the downtown east side, people with disabilities and sex workers on the downtown east side. We have also been working with a number of other charities distribute food and snacks.

As many organizations are facing unique and extreme challenges at this time A Loving Spoonful is no different – in March we saw a significant loss in corporate donations and fundraising event revenue. We had to postpone two significant annual fundraising events (planned for April and June) at a loss of approximately $200,000. We diverted our lean staff and resources to the front-lines ensuring our essential service of meal and grocery provision continues while adhering to all physical distancing measures (all of our operations and meal packing happens outside in our parking lot now!) and cleaning protocols to keep staff, volunteers and clients safe.

About A LOVING SPOONFUL

A Loving Spoonful is about food, love, hope and compassion. We deliver free, nutritious, medically tailored meals to individuals and families living with HIV in the Metro Vancouver area who are experiencing food insecurity and have a need for nutritional support.

With only about 20% government funding A Loving Spoonful relies on the generosity of the community to raise the remaining 80% of the budget. Each year we are lucky to work with corporate partners, foundations and individuals in order to fundraise to meet the needs of our clients. We hope you will help us too.

Approximately 100,000 meals are provided each year to community members throughout Metro Vancouver, and their dependent families who are experiencing malnutrition, food insecurity, mobility issues and who lack support. These meals are specifically chosen and medically tailored to meet the individual needs of each client. From frozen meals to fresh produce, yogurt, juice, bread and milk we provide a range of much needed, nutritious food to individuals and families.

Every week volunteers pack food for each individual and family. In addition, volunteers use their own cars, gas and time to deliver meals to clients who have mobility issues and are home bound for various reasons, including recent discharge from the hospital.

Approximately half of clients who access A Loving Spoonful's free services not only have HIV they also have co-existing illness or other diagnosed heath issues. These issues range from cancer, liver failure and kidney disease to diabetes and depression. A Loving Spoonful meets clients where they are at working from an anti-oppressive framework to provide support they need. Not only do we provide specially tailored meals that are appropriate to their nutritional needs, we also respect clients and work to provide them with meals they will enjoy.

With only about 20% government funding we must raise the remaining 80% of the funds to run life-saving meal programs with the help of generous people like you!