Frequently Asked Questions

Who do we feed?
We feed men, women and children who are primarily home-bound with HIV/AIDS. All of our clients have strong medical reasons to be on service; such as significant weight loss or are at high risk for wasting, or are in an advanced disease state. There are approximately 12,000 people in BC living with HIV. We can properly serve only about 225 with all our meal programs.

Easter Sundays:
Group meals planned and prepared by a volunteer team. These meals are a loving way to fight the social isolation that often comes hand in hand with a terminal disease.

Daily Meals:
Every Tuesday, volunteer drivers deliver a week’s worth of frozen meals, along with fresh fruit and bread to clients who are primarily homebound or face physical access barriers. Daily Meals are always delivered on Tuesday, regardless of holidays or other events.

Chez What?:
For clients who don’t quite fit our home delivery program; many of our clients are effectively homeless. This means they have no food storage or cooking facilities and move between living on the street, shelters and tiny rooms that lack sinks, kitchens or bathrooms. For these clients, we purchase meals at a not-for-profit café in the Downtown Eastside. Clients who live in the Down Town East Side and don’t need quite as much nutritional support as our Daily Meals, are provided with 3 meals each week.

Alternate Meal Delivery Program:
A care management system for clients who are at very high risk due to advanced HIV, mental illness, addiction and other socio-economic factors. These clients receive three meals a day and our dietitian works closely with them to monitor health and provide nutritional counseling.

Infant Formula - A Fighting Chance:
This is our only HIV prevention program. Many women discover they are HIV+ during the pregnancy blood tests. Medical intervention can lower the transmission of the virus from mother to child to almost zero. BUT if the mother breast feeds after delivery, the child’s sero-conversion rate is the same as if no intervention has taken place (a one in four chance of testing HIV+).
We provide infant formula to prevent the transmission of the virus to the child. In the last two years in BC, no child born to an HIV+ mother has sero-converted. Thanks to a donation from Hain Celestial, we are further able to support the families by providing them with fully organic baby food.

Who prepares your meals?
The meals for our Daily Meals Program are prepared under the guidance of our dietitian by Capers on Robson Street. Potluck Café Society caters the Chez What? and Alternate Meal Delivery Programs from the Portland Café in the Downtown Eastside. Their staff also works closely with our dietitian in menu and recipe planning. Some of our meals are prepared by volunteers - these are our congregate or group meals.
How do I apply for service?
The first step is to talk to us or to your physician. Most doctors in the greater Vancouver area know that our service is based on medical need. Your doctor must make a recommendation to us on our "Physician Referral Form".