Since I've started this volunteering adventure last year in February and I've missed only one week due to illness, I've calculated that last Wednesday was my mission number 57. Good number. Imagine how much good nutritious food we have saved!
And not only my team, but we at Food Link Society have different teams for every day, 7 days a week.
It's not only about food and helping people in need. There is a wider story behind our effort. All this food would end up in landfill without our intervention producing harmful CO2 and even more harmful methane.
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, over 80 times more powerful than at warming the atmosphere over a 20-year period. While produced by natural sources like wetlands, 60% of emissions stem from human activities—mainly agriculture (livestock/rice), fossil fuel extraction, and landfills.
The end goal is zero waste food cycle and supporting circular economy.
Last Mission we have used the small truck, since bigger one need some repairs. This one has new decal from recently, before that it had graffiti all over it and we used to play hip-hop while driving :) Now it's more professional, but it's still fun.
Despite it size there is a lot of room in the back if you have experience to manage the boxes properly.
But even when boxes are perfectly placed there are bumps in the road so we often don't know what will we find after opening the truck :)
Not all boxes are the same size so there is a little bit of art in optimizing the space we have.
The weather was so-so, expected for Vancouver this time of year. Not so cold but still rainy and without sunshine.
There is a lot of difference in weather patterns along the way. It all depends on elevation and how close you are to the mountains or the ocean. During one trip sometime we experience both sunshine, light or heavy rain. We didn't have snow this winter, I think first time in few decades.
Our adventure ends in this spot where we are met with other volunteers who sort all the food, one box per family. We usually have left overs if we get particular items in big quantities.
In that case we put it on the table so everyone can take some extra.
That's it for now. Next Mission is in 2 days, I'll keep you posted.
Thank you for your support.
Learn more about Food Link Society.