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Food Security

In 2024, Squamish Helping Hands served and delivered 97,002 meals for community members including:

  • 41,601 meals served on-site for our twice-daily meal services
  • 2,633 school breakfasts and lunches for students
  • 2,768 Meals on Wheels delivered to local seniors

Every single day, a group of staff and dedicated volunteers provide hot meals at the Under One Roof facility. We ensure that any resident who is hungry or unhoused can be nourished. We also operate a food bank (The Market), deliver Meals on Wheels and food hampers, and prepare nutritious meals for kids at area elementary schools.

What is food insecurity?

Food insecurity is the inadequate or insecure access to food due to financial constraints. It is a serious public health problem. Our team is actively working to shift away from emergency food services toward a longer-term community-based strategy that addresses food insecurity, individual wellness, and community resiliency in Squamish.

Squamish Food Bank

The Squamish Food Bank “The Market” at Under One Roof, provides safe, dignified and secure access to nutritious food for all in times of need by offering ongoing food distribution. We operate a low-waste community food hub where food is rescued, repurposed and shared.

In 2024, we had 9,729 visits to the food bank from individuals and families–an average of 810 unique visits per month.

Our focus is to create a safe and dignified grocery-store style shopping experience for all. Everyone has the right to healthy food, and there is enough healthy food for everyone. Our community is made up of a diverse group of folks from all walks of life who come together in this space and feel comfortable getting nourishing food in a market-style setting.

The Squamish Food Bank keeps the following hours:

  • MONDAY: closed
  • TUESDAY: 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.
  • WEDNESDAY: 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.
  • THURSDAY: 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
  • FRIDAY: closed
  • SATURDAY: 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
  • SUNDAYS: closed

Food Recovery

Our team works tirelessly to recover about 6,000 pounds of food each week from farms, retailers and restaurants to turn it into nutritious meals for Squamish residents. Volunteers are the heart and soul of the Market and we couldn’t serve our clients without them. Volunteers spend about 200 hours a month sorting donated food and preparing meals.

Donated and recovered food is also repurposed in the Under One Roof kitchen to create delicious soups and meals. This important service sparesover 100,000 kilos of food from our landfill annually, reduces our food costs, and redistributes food where it is needed most.

In 2014, our previous executive director Maureen Mackell filmed a video with Shaw TV to showcase the Squamish Food Bank (pictured here in its former location at 37930 3rd Ave)