Welcome to the Vancouver Film & TV Industry Virtual Food Drive!

Dear Friends & Vancouver Film & TV Community Members,

Times continue to be tough going for so many people. COVID-19 has pushed people deeper into the margins. and the recent flooding disasters in BC have created additional hardship (scroll to the bottom for specific info about the amazing work the GVFB has done to help people who have been impacted by the flooding).

For this holiday season, we want to help in an essential way. Many of us are blessed with jobs in the industry and it's the time of the year to give back.

Access to clean drinking water and food is a basic human right. Unfortunately, many people in our communities go without.

Please help us raise money for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank this holiday season. Just click the 'donate' button at the top to contribute! And, sharing on social media will also help!

***For every $1 donated, the Greater Vancouver Food Bank will double the value!***

We invite industry members to join our team. Reach out to us if you want to volunteer and/or assist beyond a donation!

Please be safe, kind and compassionate this holiday season and beyond. Peace & love to all.

Our team:

Luna Ferguson (Actor, Producer)

Florian Halbedl (Writer, Director, Producer, Production Manager)

Sabrina Furminger (Film & TV Industry Journalist, Podcast Host)

Lynda Boyd (Actor)

Brad Harder (Actor)

Princess Davis (Actor)

Jules Koostachin (Director, Producer, Actor)

Asivak Koostachin (Actor)

Grace Beedie (Actor)

Kendrie Upton (Exec Director, DGCBC)

Maja Aro (Stunt Coordinator, Director)

Malcolm Sparrow-Crawford (Actor)

James Bamford (Director, Producer)

Some facts from the GVFB:

As soon as we heard about the floods, our team immediately reached out to food banks in the affected areas to offer food support. Hope Food Bank and Camp Hope responded and gave us a list of food and supplies they needed. Incidentally, an anonymous company reached out to us on the same day, offering us helicopters and pilots for free. On Thursday morning, November 18th, the Greater Vancouver Food Bank team, two first responder volunteers, two pilots, and our local celebrity Mr. Bentley The Dog loaded 5,000 lbs of healthy and nutritious food and supplies (everything Hope asked for) onto the helicopters. This included toilet paper, fresh produce, milk, bread, meals in a can, and more. After five trips, the food and supplies arrived in Hope to help people in need. We are still in close communication with food banks across the province, and we are ready to help at any time. On Wednesday, November 24th, we sent 2,500 lbs of food to Merritt. So far, these are the two food banks that reached out for help. We are conscious of the storage capacity of other food banks so we're waiting on their instructions because sending things they don't need at the moment. We are prepared to help in any way we can.

-The GVFB provides assistance to approximately 8,500 people weekly across Vancouver, Burnaby, New Westminster and the North Shore. We also provide food support to approximately 80 community agencies throughout these communities, such as housing agencies, women and childrens shelters, transition homes and after school programs, which in turn provide meals and snacks to thousands of people each week, including people who are homeless.

-GVFB clients received 12-14 lbs of food per week, comprised of 10 14 items each week; some weeks reached 20lbs/client with a high component of fresh items.

-24% of our clients are children and youth, 58% are adults, and 18% are seniors; these numbers represent a 5% increase in adults and a corresponding decrease in seniors. During the COVID-19 pandemic seniors became increasingly served by neighbourhood houses who received food from the GVFB, which has allowed them to stay closer to home.