Imagine living every day filled with the pain of hunger, never knowing when or where you’ll get your next meal. For thousands of Surrey residents, this situation is a sad reality of life.

 

“It’s disheartening to know that a quarter of children in the province are living below the poverty line, and almost 20 percent of adults face food insecurity on a daily basis,” explains Elizabeth Crudgington, executive director of the Quest Outreach Society, a non-profit organization that runs a low-cost grocery market in Whalley.

 

The grocery market addresses hunger in a unique way: clients who are referred by local social service agencies can buy the food they need at significantly discounted prices as opposed to waiting in line at a food bank for a generic hamper. The result is more independence and dignity for those facing food insecurity and other social issues. But with more than 65,000 visits last year alone, Quest soon found itself turning away donations and limiting the variety of products it could offer clients because of a lack of refrigeration space.

 

“We had to get fresh food delivered from our Vancouver depot everyday, which increased costs and prevented us from accepting more donations from the community,” Crudgington explains. But thanks to a $10,000 grant from the Envision Financial Community Endowment housed with the First West Foundation, Quest was able to install a walk-in refrigerator/freezer, helping Quest achieve its goal of rescuing 25 per cent more food from the community and also increase the number of client visits from 5,500 to 8,000 per month.

 

Seline Kutan, executive director of the First West Foundation, adds that something as simple as a new fridge/freezer has made a world of difference to Quest’s clients. “I was really touched by how grateful individuals were for Quest’s services. I’ve read some amazing thank you letters where clients say that Quest has changed their life or improved their health because they now have access to healthy, affordable food. We know our grant is about more than just a fridge—it’s about helping these people get their life back on track.”

 

Quest is British Columbia's largest food exchange program, assisting low-income individuals and families in the Lower Mainland overcome their social barriers with dignity and self-sufficiency. Quest partners with local food wholesalers, restaurants, airlines, freight lines, supermarkets and farmers, accepting donations that would otherwise have gone to waste. For more information about Quest and the full list of services it provides, visit www.questoutreach.org.