Lush Valley ‘Healthy Student Meal Program’ in desperate need of volunteers

A Comox Valley non-profit is looking for volunteers to help deliver healthy meals to schools. 

The ‘Healthy Student Meal Program’, run by both the  Comox Valley School District and The LUSH Valley Action Society, delivers soup ingredient kits and snack packs to schools in the valley throughout the week.

It’s set to start up again at near the end of October and the organization is in desperate need of volunteers. 

It needs people to fill many roles including:

• Shoppers– (Thursday mornings) You would be provided with a Superstore gift card and required to go to Superstore to pick up any soup kit ingredients that have not been ordered through local farmers by the Food Access Manager.
• Pickup Produce Drivers– (Wed. or Thurs. mornings) Drive to local farms and pick up fresh produce to deliver to the warehouse. Farms are usually in the Merville area.
• Soup Kit sorting and Packaging- (Thurs. afternoon) Go to the warehouse and sort the soup ingredients into ‘kits’ for distribution to the school the next day.
• Snack Packs sorting and packaging- (Tuesday morning or afternoon) Go to the warehouse to sort the snack ingredients (fresh fruits and veggies) into ‘kits’ for delivery on Wed. morning.
• Soup kit delivery drivers- (Friday mornings) Create geographically sensible routes of two to four schools per driver and deliver the soup kits to 12 to 15 schools each week. Contactless drop-off at the schools. (We can’t enter the schools at this time.) There are usually two grocery bags of food per school.
• Snack Pack deliver drivers- (Friday mornings) Create geographically sensible routes of two to four schools per driver for delivery of the snack packs to 12 to 15 schools each week. Contactless drop-off at the schools. (We can’t enter the schools at this time.) A couple of bags or boxes per school.

The ‘Healthy Student Meal Program’ helps over 800 students each week enjoy healthy and nutritious soup and snacks.

With the guidance of Indigenous Education Support workers with SD71, the students cook, and then share the soup with fellow students.

LUSH Valley says by doing it that way,  they learn to cook and get to appreciate the goodness of healthy local food because the organization uses as many local ingredients as possible.

If you are interested in volunteering, or if you want to learn more, visit the LUSH Valley Food Action Society’s website.