Perleen

november 2020, by Maddie hague

Meet Perleen, a thoughtful and giving member of our community who, when asked to tell us about herself, is taken aback because she’s not used to talking about herself. When asked to provide a portrait so we could honour her, Perleen preferred to send a photo of her loving family.

Perleen is a people person, a mother of two, and an active member of her church, involved in a variety of events and programs.

For Perleen, “there’s always things that need to be done and people that need to be served. We try to work in our community...And our two kids- even though they’re just three and four- their little hands can still help too. There’s so many families that are in need.”

Previously, having worked as a chef, Perleen loves to cook and serve. As a Rescued Food Box Member of Food Stash Foundation, Perleen utilizes her cooking skills to create inventive meals with the array of ingredients she receives from Food Stash each week. You may have seen one of Perleen’s home-cooked meals featured on our Instagram page, and she even brought Food Stash volunteers crispy samosas as a thank you this summer!

Perleen & Food Stash

Perleen and her family are going on their second year as Members of the Rescued Food Box (RFB) program. After her partner suffered a severe back injury and their household income was compromised, Perleen visited a local neighbourhood house to speak to a social worker about assistance programs. The social worker recommended Food Stash Foundations’ RFB program that delivers 30 pounds of healthy food (composed of fruit, vegetables, meat, eggs and dairy) to Members' doorsteps every week. The food in the box is rescued from local grocery stores and farms. By rescued food we mean perfectly good food that has not sold (perhaps because it does not fulfill consumer expectations, or grocery stores have overstocked their shelves) that would otherwise be thrown away if not for Food Stash efforts.

The Food Stash Impact for Perleen

Perleen immediately thought the Rescued Food Box program sounded amazing because it removes the physical and logistical challenges of getting to the grocery store (a task many of us take for granted), and it minimizes waste. 

With her experience as a chef, Perleen is no stranger to how bad food waste can be. For instance she has witnessed entire meals being sent back just because they had a piece of parsley on them. In fact, in Canada 58% of all food produced is lost or wasted! 

The RFB program also saves Perleen’s family time and money, as weekly deliveries are only $40 a month. But it’s not just the waste reduction, savings and delivery that makes a difference in Perleen’s life:

“Your volunteers are just so awesome...When our pit bull was a puppy, there was a couple that were making the delivery. I came out to meet them and saw the puppy rolled over having her belly rubbed. The husband was lying on the ground of the driveway with her!...Everyone’s always smiling- no matter what the weather is- and it just picks you up.”

Perleen’s children also love the deliveries, getting excited each week it arrives:

“The kids would open the box and name everything they brought out. It’s a surprise every time and they want to help- they often make more of a mess- but they’re willing.”

Expanding the Impact to More Households

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Perleen and her husband wondered if the Rescued Food Box program would continue or not. But it was a very pleasant surprise to learn Food Stash was still going strong. In fact, Food Stash took on a number of new programs in response to the pandemic thanks to the generosity of donors and volunteers. One such program is Pedal to Plate, which is similar to the RFB program but delivers food boxes by electric trike rather than cars.

Food Stash is currently looking to add more people to the Pedal to Plate program who would benefit from food delivery like Perleen and her family. When asked if Perleen would recommend Food Stash programs she replied: “YES, definitely, oh my goodness. We are blessed by Food Stash, so we’re happy to tell people about it.”