Meeting Notes

January 28th Meal Service Recap

Food Stocks

New Members Signed Up

Next Meal Service

Next Meeting?

January 28th Meal Service Recap

Our last Oppenheimer Park meal service (**January 28th**):
Two boxes of clothes were brought in for the coming cold temperatures and the recent spread of police-to-homeless crackdown, people were appreciative of them and took whatever clothes they could, no oversight on amount taken per person.
Beatrice brought two boxes of clothes, a third-full bag of uncooked rice with a large spoon, two metal trays, one with vegan mashed potatoes, another with stir-fried vegan carrot slices, and an Instant Pot.
Vi brought a large pot of vegan curry and a friend to help out with the labor.
Dave brought the Food Not Bombs sign, peanut sauce and some vegan cookies to serve alongside rice and curry.
Jadynn took lots of pictures as our dedicated photographer, taking a solid spread of photos for later graphics and Food Not Bombs advertising.
Zoe helped out in the kitchen, Mabel helped with literature distribution, AP, Alyssa and Linda all helped serving food at the front table.
There was a slight delay of food being served until 12:30pm. We finished serving food, concluding with the last of our steamed rice, around 2pm.
At 12:30pm, we started serving Vi's vegan curry in takeout containers and plastic tupperwave with rice, serving them out of the metal pot.
Alongside that, we served steamed rice from the brought Instant Pot and the mashed potatoes and stir-fried carrot slices.
We had a large bowl filled with soapy warm water for putting down the reusable utensils and takeout containers.
The people enjoyed the vegan curry, plenty of people eagerly taking them, really enjoyed the mashed potatoes, and they unanimously enjoyed the rice.
Beatrice kept the third-filled-bag of rice for a later Food Not Bombs serving date.
Someone dropped off a few boxes full of canned goods, like coconut milk, bolognese sauce, and beans, etc., which Food Not Bombs members took.
Food amount and diversity were non-issues, we had an abundance and varied diet of food for the people over there, bringing out food at a steady pace, and finishing at a solid time of 2pm this service before discussing the duties and post-service minutiae with new members.
Volunteer service quantity was far less an issue this time, given we had around ten hands on deck, but there are personal concerns about infrastructure and labor set-up (to be stated later).
We brought literature, around twenty flyers and the sign-up sheet from before (Beatrice), which quite a few people this service signed up for, and literature on pandemic survival and activism, and education of the oppression of Israel against Palestine (Vi). Not a lot of people took flyers or pamphlets this time.

Our areas of improvement, from my vantage point:
Figuring out a decent ratio of labor between the front table and kitchen, given we wouldn't want members with no idea what to do and we may need to figure out a potential rotation system and back-and-forth between the kitchen and front table people.
Having a solid stack of food earlier before 12:30pm. We may have to consider prepping rice earlier so that people eat even earlier than 12:15am, at least. We have a consistently practical 12:30am starting time, despite our 12pm to 2-3pm period, and while some of that is unavoidable due to the nature of on-site cooking, we can steam rice sooner, at least.
Our inexperience with handing out literature showed, especially from the older members. If we're going to dedicate ourselves back to handing out literature and have the numbers for it, we need to figure out a set-up for getting them in people's hands.

Food Stocks

I have a third of a bag of rice, a bunch of frozen garlic, cans of coconut milk and bolognese sauce, and will acquire fresh potatoes and carrots by next Friday.

You can feel free to edit in your name (preferably with the date you've currently have food with) in the [Person] cell of the spreadsheet and type down whatever food stores you have in the cells below here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1AuezW3hPSWaqIx8xyjNqf-UkWdPuISvwQ-qNsHt1TQM/edit?usp=sharing

But we're mostly just here to assess what our current food stores look like in the moment of the meeting.

New Members Signed Up

So. Last meal service, we had a major influx of new members!! Six new names signed up for the group, and helped out with the meal service, Mabel, Zoe, AP, Alyssa, Linda, and Jadynn. I would just like to wish them all a big welcome, and let them know about our spreadsheet for food stores and places/organizations that we can pick up donations, separated by location of British Columbia in the Vancouver to Greater Vancouver areas: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1AuezW3hPSWaqIx8xyjNqf-UkWdPuISvwQ-qNsHt1TQM/edit?usp=sharing

And that new members can print off this form to let groups or stores that if they donate food, they won't be legally held liable, thus giving them better cause to donate, if they are inclined to do food pick-ups from stores: https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/00_97008_01

Next Meal Service

So. Oppenheimer Park hasn't gotten back to me, even though I've sent them an email three days ago, but the date for the meal service would be either Saturday, February 24th, or Sunday, February 25th, from 12pm to 2-3pm. I'm assuming it's just a delayed response before they get back to me, and this isn't indicative of a rejection for that date, but I will consider calling them for immediate assistance at (604) 253-8830 later today or tomorrow to secure the date. We might have to consider the possibility of a later meal service in the weekend afterwards.

Next Meeting?

SO. For our next meeting, as we usually do the second Sunday of the month, but given Vi's usually more preoccupied during Sundays, would Saturday, March 9th work for everyone here at 12pm or 3:30pm? I just want to know how everyone's schedule could match up, depending on date.