Community Food Centres Canada 2024 BC Gathering
Community Food Centres Canada (CFCC) aims to build health, belonging, and social justice in communities across Canada through the power of food. Since its creation in 2014, there are now over 400 Good Food Organizations partnered with CFCC across Canada to provide programs that build health, belonging, and social justice through the power of food, connected to a core philosophy of CFCC’s Good Food Principles.
As a Good Food Organization, Vancouver Food Runners was invited to the 2024 BC Gathering, held by CFCC on February 27th and 28th in Vancouver. Activities our team participated in included:
Workshops, presentations, and discussions regarding the topics of food security, climate, driving action for change, and more!
Sessions on advocacy and mobilization with hands-on breakout sessions
Lots of opportunities to connect, learn, and share with other Good Food Organizations across BC
Keep reading to hear from Michelle, Courtney, Kelsey, and Adelyn about our time at the Gathering and our key takeaways! (Sadly, Chloe was unable to attend this week due to an illness!)
The two-day CFCC BC Gathering was a unique opportunity for the BC food systems community to come together to share, learn, connect, and plan. In our hectic day-to-day work lives, we’re all so busy operating food programs (addressing immediate, urgent community food security needs), we often don’t have the time to slow down, pull back, and examine the “big picture”: to ask ourselves fundamental questions about the underlying reasons for food security. The primary challenges being poverty and social inequities.
The second full day of the conference was devoted to advocacy and coalition building –emphasizing the power of collective action.
This day was an excellent reminder of the need to think about the intersections between income, poverty, food security, and the environment – and key federal-level actions we can start working on together: as a BC Coalition. It was an important “heads up” on the power of documenting local experiences across the country, bringing data and testimonies together, and using this work to advocate for national policy changes on food security and poverty reduction.
After the conference was over on Wednesday night, I came home and had a look at the CFCC website, at the myriad of resources they have to learn more on food security and advocacy. I encourage you to check them out:
Building the Case: Poverty and Food Insecurity Among Working-Age, Single Adults in Canada
Sounding the Alarm: The Need to Invest in Working-Age Single Adults
Beyond Hunger: The Hidden Impact of Food Insecurity in Canada
More CFCC resources can be found here:
Having the opportunity for so many of us in the food systems sector (including both new and familiar faces!) to come together for two days and centre our learnings around collaboration, empowerment, and activism was an eye-opening experience for me. Coming from various backgrounds, regions, and cities, yet sharing the common goals of connecting people through food, promoting social justice, and engaging in collective advocacy, was both empowering and reflective.
I was inspired by the experiences shared by industry experts like Andrew Creighton, Mam Joof, Mona Lee-Tam, and other CFCC members with whom I interacted with throughout each workshop. Their insights into strategic planning, storytelling ethics, and the power of personal engagement have given me some exciting ideas to bring back to VFR.
“Connection” is the word I chose at the beginning of the conference, and it was a theme across all the sessions and discussions I was a part of.
I enjoyed connecting directly with community partners that VFR works with on a regular basis (for many of them, it was our first time meeting in person, although we connect via email or phone on a regular basis!) and hearing more about how we can continue support one another and collaborate. And expanding my network through connections was also so useful for new ideas and strategies. Just a few of the connections made below:
DTES Women’s Centre: Discussing their current food needs and how VFR can enhance support.
Vancouver Fruit Tree Project: Reconnecting to resume food donations through VFR.
Richmond Food Bank: Learning from their robust volunteer engagement plan.
Exploring food rescue and programming beyond our current network in Vancouver, including Food Recovery Depot in Kimberly, BC, Shelbourne Community Kitchen in Victoria, BC, Sunshine Coast Community Services Society across Sunshine Coast, BC, and numerous other remarkable organizations across BC.
A large portion of my role at VFR is connecting remotely with people — whether it be with volunteers, or matching food donations to nonprofit community partners — so the opportunity to connect in-person and learn from the BC food community was extremely valuable, and I look forward to carrying these connections with me.
I can’t think of a better orientation to a new job than attending a two-day conference that includes the many organizations within BC that are running programs to tackle food insecurity.
This was my first week with VFR as a program coordinator. I had the opportunity to connect with individuals running food education programs, food banks, food pantries, and community kitchens.
The conference was a “crash course” for me to see many of the organizations in the food security environment and many of whom VFR work with. The amount of passion and energy that each participant gave to their programs and to the cause as a whole was palpable. I think that conferences like these are so important in the non-profit sphere. Not only is it an opportunity for knowledge transfer between organizations, but also to feel supported that there is collective action to tackle a very large social issue. I am looking forward to being part of the drive for change to reduce food insecurity in my community and beyond!