Winter 2006 No One Living with AIDS Should Live with Hunger www.alovingspoonful.org A Food Basket's Story: The inner workings of A Loving Spoonful's daily meals program by Shawn Hall Every Tuesday a dozen volunteers show up at A Loving Spoonful's office at 10:30 a.m. to spend the next two hours packing food into plastic grocery bags. Later that afternoon, 150 of the charity's clients will get a knock on the door when another volunteer stops by to deliver their meals for the next week. HE DAILY MEALS PROGRAM IS THE CORE OF WHAT A LOVING SPOONFUL DOES. EACH TUESDAY, THAT PROGRAM'S CLIENTS TWILL RECEIVE A BAG FULL OF FOOD, WITH SEVEN FROZEN ENTREES, DAIRY PRODUCTS, SNACKS INCLUDING DRIED FRUIT AND GRANOLA, BREAD, AND FRESH FRUIT FOR EACH PERSON IN THEIR FAMILY. THEY STORE THE MEALS IN FREEZERS, AND HEAT THEM UP IN MICROWAVES - APPLIANCES OFTEN DONATED TO THEM BY THE CHAR- ITY. “Our clients have come to the point in their fight against AIDS that they lack the strength to get to the grocery store to buy food and to cook nutritious meals for themselves,” says Sue Moen, A Loving Spoonful's executive director.“And yet, nutrition is a Sharon Miller, an A critical tool in the fight against the disease. Without Loving Spoonful proper food, people with AIDS will become even volunteer, preparing weaker. It's a spiral we head off with the daily meals food parcels for and other programs.” delivery. A bag for an individual client is stuffed with seven the meals in batches, then vacuum seals and freezes frozen entrees, a snack pack, fresh fruit, and a loaf of them. Capers delivers cases of these meals - one kind bread. The frozen meals come straight from Capers' of meal per case - to A Loving Spoonful's warehouse Robson store, where they are prepared especially for three times a week, where they're stored in a walk-in A Loving Spoonful to meet the unique dietary needs freezer. of someone living with AIDS. Each Tuesday, the charity's packing volunteers start Capers provides the meals at cost. Each frozen entrée by picking up a bag labelled with details of one costs A Loving Spoonful about $5.50. Once the other client's dietary needs and food preferences. They go items are tallied up, one weekly basket costs the char- through the cases of bulk meals and pick out seven ity $42. Capers has a dedicated chef who prepares all that fit that criteria and stack them up in a bag. The continued on p. 2 A Food Basket’s Story continued from cover bag is topped up with the other items, labeled, and each client. Six clients receive Ensure each month placed in a cooler for storage. because of a donation from its manufacturer, Abbott. Each snack pack costs about $3. None of that food is A typical week's menu of meals might include free - even Quest must charge a fee for delivery. spaghetti with meat sauce, beef stroganoff, teriyaki Rather, it is all paid for from donations made by indi- salmon, roast beef, roast pork, glazed chicken, and a viduals and corporations, and raised at events. breakfast burrito. Other options would include turkey dinner, beef stroganoff, pork sausage, seafood kebab, Maitland meets with A Loving Spoonful's dietitian, beef pie, or chicken lasagna. Nicole Mireau, and suppliers every few weeks to talk about what clients are eating to ensure everything is “It's critical the meals not only be nutritious, but also both palatable and nutritious, and as inexpensive as that they contain more protein and calories than nor- possible.“The demand for our service exceeds what mal diets, as people living with HIV need the addi- we have the finances to supply, so it's critical we tional nutrition,” says Lukas Maitland, A Loving make every dollar go as far as possible,” Maitland Spoonful's director of programs.“ says. In that spirit, the society runs with only three full time staff, plus Mireau on half-time and Kaelan Wong, a part-time employee who directs the ordered chaos that is the daily meals program each Tuesday. More You're inside, in your room, than 170 volunteers pitch in to staff the various food programs and fundraisers and to sit on the board and by yourself. Eventually people supporting committees. Each Tuesday between 3 and stop coming to visit. Family 7 pm., another two dozen volunteers are out about “ town in their own vehicles running up stairs to deliv- and friends may also stop er bags to individual clients and families. coming because of the stigma Many of their stops are single room hotel rooms and of being HIV positive. social housing in east Vancouver. A Loving Spoonful's clients universally face multiple challenges in addi- tion to HIV and AIDS, most notably poverty. They're not strong enough to work, and many don't have a support network. “Being sick makes you isolated,” ” Maitland says.“You're inside, in your room, by your- self. Eventually people stop coming to visit. Family The food must also be easy to prepare and contain no and friends may also stop coming because of the stig- spices or intense flavouring. About a third of our ma of being HIV positive.” meals are dairy free and another third are soft as many of our clients experience stomach and diges- The good news is that some baskets go out only half tion problems as a side effect of anti-retroviral thera- full. They're the success stories, because it means the py or have serious dental issues that make chewing clients receiving them have regained some strength and swallowing difficult.” and are starting to again shop and cook some of their own meals and don't need a full basket any more. The snack packs are pulled together from a number In fact, last year 20 clients removed themselves from of sources. Dairyland delivers a supply of yogurt cups, the Daily Meals Program because they had regained milk or cheese to A Loving Spoonful every Tuesday sufficient strength. morning. Each client gets four. Truffles Organic Catering prepares a pack of granola, nuts, and four Last year, A Loving Spoonful delivered almost pieces of dried fruit for each client. The fresh fruit is 100,000 meals through all its meal programs, spend- ordered directly from a produce wholesaler, while ing $544,440 donated by individuals, foundations, Quest Outreach Society provides bread and treats for community groups and corporations to do so. 2 | the HeartBeat Making Time for Kindness: A profile of two A Loving Spoonful volunteers by Irena Pochop In 2005, volunteers donated more than 20,000 hours to A Loving Spoonful. With its wide range of volunteer opportunities and flexible hours, A Loving Spoonful has become a popular choice for people who want to give back to their commu- nity while gaining invaluable communication and leadership skills. WO SUCH VOLUNTEERS ARE SOHEIL SHARIFI, A UBC STUDENT actively involved in the process is a must.“Everyone WHO HAS BEEN WITH A LOVING SPOONFUL FOR SIX MONTHS, is there for just that time, and in this sense it is a lim- TAND POONAM JASSI, AN SFU STUDENT WHO BECAME A ited opportunity.”The answer, he suggests, is to take LOVING SPOONFUL VOLUNTEER TWO YEARS AGO. SHARIFI JOINED A full advantage of the opportunities that this volunteer LOVING SPOONFUL'S VOLUNTEER LEADERSHIP TEAM (VLT) IN JULY position offers by being proactive: “I volunteer myself 2005, AND SINCE THEN HAS BEEN STEADILY GAINING A CLEARER for doing things and that helps a lot.” Sharifi adds UNDERSTANDING OF HIS DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES. volunteering with A Loving Spoonful has two great benefits: gaining experience, and knowing you're “I didn't know what to expect at first,” says Sharifi. doing something worthwhile. “'VLT' sounded so formal and such a big deal that I was expecting a large room and a large table and people in suits sitting down and discussing volun- teers. The first meeting especially I was totally lost. Everyone kept talking about VLT, but I had no idea what that was. Finally, I had to ask, 'what is VLT?'” The embarrassment at not recognizing the acronym for his own committee did not last long thanks to the graciousness of the people on Sharifi's team. “Everyone there was very nice and very welcoming,” Sharifi says, adding he was surprised that many of the volunteers he met on this first day were around his own age (early 20s). What also surprised Sharifi on this first day was the professionalism of the other vol- unteers. Sharifi credits this professionalism with the steady development of his own leadership, manage- ment, and communication skills - the very skills he was hoping to build through his involvement with A Soheil Sharifi Loving Spoonful. “I've gained a lot from the experience, but it's been a “I know that it sounds like a cliché, but it's true.You slow and steady process,” he says. “You have to be go home at the end of the day and you ask yourself if patient with it. I've met a nice group of people and you've done something…have you been productive I've gotten to know the other committee members. enough? And then the skills that I've developed Karen Opas, A Loving Spoonful's Director of through my Loving Spoonful volunteer work. Getting Volunteers, does a wonderful job. She is one of the experience from the people on my committee who do best volunteer coordinators I've seen - very profes- this kind of work for a living…these are also the most sional and very nice.” Because the Volunteer rewarding parts of this work.” Leadership Committee meets only for 90 minutes every month, Sharifi is discovering that becoming For those who are considering this kind of volunteer Winter 2006 | 3 Making Time for Kindness continued from p.