Serving the community
It all starts, says New Hope Cuisine chef Scott Rowe, at the loading dock at the Salvation Army location on 12th Street. That's where the New Hope Cuisine truck drops off food picked up from local Thrifty and Whole Foods locations.
The food — an assortment of fruits, vegetables, breads and other items — isn't cosmetically suitable for sale in the grocery shops. But "there's nothing wrong with that pear," Rowe says, fruit-in-hand.
The New Hope Cuisine uses what's called a "food rescue" strategy in it's operations. Step one: gathering the aforementioned fare. Once inside Rowe's kitchen, he and his team employ a three-tiered system for handling and processing the food.
Level one, called the classic food recovery model, is to, as Rowe says, "give a pear to someone who needs it." That someone, he quickly points out, can be an individual or an organization. Need is need.
On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, Rowe says his crew distributes roughly 400 fresh-food baskets, each full of whatever the kitchen's amassed. Rowe says a typical basket contains sandwiches, fruits and vegetables, with rotating items such as yogurt when it's available. Last year, New Hope Cuisine produced 10,000 baskets and rescued 150 metric tonnes of food destined for the dump.
Level two is what Rowe calls the "value-added" portion of the program. He and his team of cooks, currently comprised of 30 volunteers and six work-study students, prepare the food and package it for sale. On this day, Rowe opens up his kitchen's walk-in fridge and points to hotel pans full of chicken, potatoes and roasted vegetables. These items, once frozen, will be sold for $3.50. His kitchen also offers internationally-themed dishes — packages of chicken, basmati rice and lima beans, for example — priced at $4.50. About 1,500 units, — 1,000 meals and 500 soups — sit in his freezer packed and ready for sale.
The final step in the process is decidedly less culinary in nature. Currently, New Hope Cuisine sends all foods not used in level one or two to Fraser Richmond Soil and Fibre to be converted into compost. But if all goes according to plan, this final step will soon be completed locally. The Edible Garden Project has offered Loutet Farm as the site to age the compost and Whole Foods has offered to sell the product.
"The whole point is to use this resource in the community. The dream is to keep it all here," he says.
"The food to feed and the compost to grow more."
Service with a smile
Each day, the kitchen’s menu is placed near the entrance to the building, steps from a freezer stocked with food. For those who can’t make it in to the Salvation Army in person, the menu is also available online and delivery is made available.
The fact that this food is rescued, distributed and prepared for those who need the help isn’t lost on Rowe. He’s paid his dues in the kitchen. At the tender age of 19, Rowe got his first gig running a kitchen. He’s also been the head chef at Vancouver’s Sands Hotel and the boss of the Grouse Mountain Resort kitchen. This gig, however, is different.
“In the back of your head, you’re always thinking ‘why am I doing this?’ In the past, it was always to enrich others, or myself,” he says.
“Now it’s to help those who need help. I’ve never done anything as satisfying as I’m doing now. And I was a very happy guy.”
The holidays
Each year, the Salvation Army also hosts a community dinner, prepared by Rowe and his kitchen crew, open to anyone who wishes to attend. This year, the event is scheduled for Dec. 23, starting at 1 p.m. The facility can seat about 80 people, and attendees will be rotated through until 2:30 p.m.
This year marks the first time the Salvation Army will host a family dinner as well. Scheduled for Dec. 22, the evening will feature food, carols and an appearance by Santa Claus himself. Unlike the annual event, the family dinner will be by invitation only, based on those identified by need.
To be true, yuletide meals and singalongs aren’t all the group is up to over Christmas. The Adopt-a-Family Program is an annual initiative where the Salvation Army — in partnership with individuals and businesses — supports a low income family by giving them a Christmas hamper with gifts for children and the parents, as well as a game for the entire family.
“When we hand out the Christmas hampers, parents are so grateful,” says Diane Cross, a captain of the North Van Salvation Army with her husband Glyndon.
“They don’t want to be here, but they share their heart.”
The organization’s largest fundraising initiative is the kettle drive. For six weeks, from mid-November to Christmas Eve, volunteers man 20 kettles across the North Shore, working a total of 7,500 hours.
The money raised in the kettle drive, adds Glyndon, pays for more than just the holiday activities. It covers everything they do.
“It pays for everything you see downstairs [the kitchen],” adds Glyndon.
“It raises $300,000 for the whole year. It’s a lean budget and we push it as far as it can go.”
For those interested in volunteering this season with Christmas meals, call 604-988-7225. To volunteer with kettle drive, call 604-368-0657, or with the hampers at 604-368-0657.
skolenko@northshoreoutlook.com
twitter.com/seankolenko
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