United for Food Security: More than just food – Food Hubs connect people and communities 

 “I’ve always had a sense of you don’t need a lot, you just need the necessities. And food and shelter are two necessities that every human being needs, regardless of who you are,” says Gwen, Project Lead with the Kekinow Indigenous Food Program at Surrey’s Kekinow Native Housing Society. 

Gwen and fellow volunteer Justin are integral members of the program who have been working together since 2020 to help ensure families, Elders and others in the Society’s four housing complexes have enough to eat. The program is part of the United Way BC Surrey Central Regional Community Food Hub, which provides food to those in need in the city’s Cloverdale, Newton, City Centre, Guildford and South Surrey neighbourhoods. 

Regional Community Food Hubs (RCFH) are an innovative, local response to food security with networks of community partners like Kekinow working together with a steward agency (in this case, Sources Community Resource Society) to improve food access with and for British Columbians like Gwen and Justin. Hubs like Surrey Central share resources and knowledge to create a more accessible food system for their community members. Additionally, they can take part in food literacy and wellness programming and make use of wrap-around services such as mental health supports, employment services, childcare, or United Way programs like Better at Home and School’s Out, creating a web of care. 

Increasing costs, increasing needs 

 “Our world is changing…and it’s getting harder and harder and harder to get by especially for low-income people. Even [for] working [and] middle-class people is hard now,” says Justin, who is a father of three young children and is on a disability income. During the pandemic and in the aftermath, food costs have risen significantly, driving the demand for more nutritional food. In 2023, almost 22% of BC residents lived in food-insecure households. That’s well over 1 million people, including children, who are struggling to afford the food they need. 

“There just isn’t enough sometimes and I, even with [the United Way BC Food Hub truck], I remember just a couple months ago… I went to the till to buy food and I couldn’t afford it all,” Justin says. 

Surrey is a diverse, geographically large, and rapidly growing city that has numerous “food deserts” (few grocery stores exist) and “food swamps” (food options are fast food outlets or convenience stores) impacting the entire community, particularly lone parents, racialized groups, and the areas of Bridgeview, Newton, Guildford West, and parts of South Surrey. 

Dignity and accessibility 

A key aspect of United Way BC RCFHs is they prioritize choice so that those making use of their services have access to healthy, nutritious, and culturally preferable foods. Sara is a Food Security Engagement Worker at the Food Hub. 

“The Regional [Community] Food Hub exists to give a space for all these stores or distributors, wholesalers to provide or donate their food and save it from being thrown away,” Sarah says. “Thanks to United Way BC, we have a fleet of vehicles, a huge warehouse for a place like Kekinow or another smaller community programs that don’t have that infrastructure in place,” Sara says. Thanks to this, every week, the United Way BC Food Hub truck visits one of four Kekinow subsidized housing complexes located throughout Surrey. 

“We’ll get healthy stuff [such] as lettuce, carrots, sometimes potatoes, strawberries, apples, grapes and all this stuff that if you were to go look the box of stuff you could leave from here. If you were to go to 

the grocery store and buy that, there’s no chance. We’re on fixed incomes so we can only buy so much for ourselves with the money we get,” Justin says. 

United for food security 

Thanks to the generous support of United Way BC donors and the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, 23 Regional Community Food Hubs connected 105 organizations across BC to help 554,161 people access the nourishment they need and deserve as well as other programs and services in 2023/24. This included 158,416 members of minority racial, ethnic, language, or cultural communities and 11,565 Indigenous individuals. Last year, 1,128,323 food hampers and 5,564,321 meals were provided through Food Hubs. 

“It’s not about me. It’s not about you. It’s about us. It’s about us lifting one another up, helping one another,” Gwen says. “It’s not just food. It’s a sense of belonging. It’s a sense of security. It’s a sense of enjoyment. It brings community together. 

“Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all the donors that have found the ability and ways to give.” 

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