About

The Richmond Food Bank is a dynamic hub that connects people, food, and services that are essential to health and well-being – the hallmark of a caring community. The Richmond Food Bank gives healthy and nutritionally-balanced food to more than 2200 people in a typical week, providing Richmond residents with healthy food choices and connecting our clients to services that address the root causes of poverty.

About

Our Vision

Volunteers sorting fresh produce

To create a caring community where no one goes hungry.

Our Mission

To be a caring organization that provides food assistance, advocacy, and related support for community members in need.

Our History

Founded on 6 March 1983 by the congregations of St. Alban Anglican Church and Richmond Presbyterian, the Richmond Food Bank has continuously provided nutritious food for our neighbours in need.  Twenty families were served on that first day.

Today, the Richmond Food Bank serves over 2200 people on average every week.  We provide nutritious grocery assistance through our grocery distributions, grocery parcels delivery service, breakfast and lunch programs in seven Richmond schools, and by supplying community partners with food for their programs.

We have moved around Richmond- including our first location in Howard De Beck School, the Public Works Yard on Lynas Lane, two locations in Steveston, and finally in our present location in Richmond City Centre (100-5800 Cedarbridge Way).  Every move has been made without missing a single distribution day thanks to the hard work of our volunteers and the support of local businesses and organizations.

RFB Volunteers in the warehouse

The Richmond Food Bank is a registered charity with a volunteer board of directors. Our work is supported by our community of donors and volunteers who generously donate food, money, and time to help us with our vision of creating a community where no one goes hungry.

The Richmond Food Bank is a member of Food Banks BC and Food Banks Canada. We also hold membership with many community organizations including Richmond Cares Richmond Gives, the Richmond Poverty Reduction Coalition (formerly Richmond Poverty Response Committee), Vantage Point, Volunteer Canada, the Richmond Chamber of Commerce, and the Richmond Community Services Advisory Committee.

News & Events

Keep up with the latest news and events at the Richmond Food Bank.

RFB Board Members

FAQs

We distribute food on Monday-Thursdays & Saturdays from 11-2pm.

For a complete list of our grocery distribution facilities and hours, visit our Get Food page.

Register for groceries here

We provide grocery distribution at 4 main locations:

  • Cedarbridge (main office)
  • West Richmond Food Hub
  • Daniels Road Depot
  • Church on Five

For a complete list of our grocery distribution facilities and hours, visit our Get Food page.

Register for groceries here

We have provided weekly grocery service to Richmond since 1983. 

Read more about our history on out About page.

We serve 2,800 people and give out over 20,000 lbs of food each week.

Food Bank Facts

  • For every $1 we spend, we collect and distribute about $7 worth of food (based on 2022 data)
  • 55% of our clients are temporary users, most of whom are suffering through a crisis
  • 32% of our clients are children
  • 30% could be self-sufficient, but have cost of living concerns
  • 15% are long-term users with multiple barriers to employment, including chronic illness, mental health problems, or disabilities
  • Roughly 4% are transients and have no fixed address
  • 230 people volunteer every week; in addition, many groups volunteer with us on a weekly, monthly, or yearly basis

Board of Directors

Carol Yan Lau
President
Richard Rand
Vice President
David Barbosa
Treasurer
Dave Elviss
Secretary
Ed Chan
Director
Edwin Wu
Director
Evan Dunfee
Director
Jenny Yiu
Director
Kelvin Choy
Director
Nazir Hirji
Director
Hajira Hussain
Executive Director

Carol Yan Lau

President

Carol's background in the non-profit and property management sectors are a great benefit to the Richmond Food Bank board of directors.

Carol has been an active volunteer for over thirty years and has been on the RFB board of directors since 2015. Carol enjoys working with people towards a common goal.

Carol has been married to her husband Terrance for over 25 years. They and their two sons, Aidan and Connal, live in Richmond. Carol considers her family to be her greatest source of inspiration and happiness.

Richard Rand

Vice President

Richard is a financial advisor with RBC Dominion Securities since 1990 and a member of the RFB board of directors since 2007.

Richard has lived in Richmond since 1969. He enjoys spending time with his wife Karla, golfing, skiing, and traveling.

David Barbosa

Treasurer

David is a CPA, CA and holds a BBA in Accounting and Management Information Systems from Simon Fraser University. David joined the Richmond Food Bank Society's board of directors in November 2021. He began his early career articling at KPMG LLP and brings 20+ years of industry experience holding senior finance, IT, and CFO roles in the clean tech, consumer goods and food manufacturing sectors.

David, with his wife and five children, is grateful to be living on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam) people, now known as Richmond. He is actively involved in his local community and also serves on the Board of CPAWS-BC, a non-profit conservation organization. He enjoys going on nature walks, cooking, travelling, and spending time with his family.

Dave Elviss

Secretary

Dave Elviss is a Richmond resident for 30 years and a retiree from WorkSafe BC for more than 32 years.

While at WorkSafe, Dave served on their Helping Hands committee that raised funds for charitable causes, including the Richmond Food Bank. In fact, Dave and the Helping Hands committee donated the funds for the food bank's first forklift.

Dave volunteers on the board of directors, at one of our school meals programs and during our grocery distributions. When he's not at the RFB, Dave enjoys reading, fly fishing, and researching genealogy and history.

Ed Chan

Director

Ed has been a Richmond resident since 1980 and has been a volunteer at the Richmond Food Bank since 2008. He had a varied career, starting as a teacher of high school math & science, then working in the airline industry, followed by positions in hi-tech marketing and then the financial advisory industry.

He enjoys spending time with his grown children and their families and likes travelling with his wife whenever possible. Ed's passions include cars, cycling, racket sports, and watching sports in general.

Edwin Wu

Director

Edwin is currently a CPA, CA within the mining and metals industry. Having grown up in Richmond, he is passionate about the opportunity to give back to the community.

In his spare time, he likes to run, golf, travel and cook.

Evan Dunfee

Director

Evan is a race walker who has spent the past 23 years chasing after his Olympic dreams, which culminated with him landing on the podium at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in the 50km race. Walking tens of thousands of kilometres around the streets of Richmond has given Evan a perspective on the city that he feels is valuable and he is a keen champion of active transportation, affordable housing, and community building.

Evan has learned through his journey how to use his platform to help those around him. Whether it is raising money for KidSport, speaking in schools, coaching or even getting 35,000 boxes of Kraft Dinner donated to the Food Bank, Evan is always focused on adding value to his community here in Richmond.

Evan hopes to bring the goal setting, determination and critical thinking skills he’s developed as an athlete to the help the Food Bank achieve it’s long term goals.

Jenny Yiu

Director

Jenny is a teacher in the Richmond School District. She teaches Resource and English and has a Master's of Education with a focus in Indigenous Literature and Technology in the Classroom.

She spends her time writing, growing plants, and going on long road trips with her husband and their dog, Pepper.

Kelvin Choy

Director

Kelvin is a CPA and Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS), focusing on Financial Crime and Enterprise Risk Management within the financial services industry. Kelvin also serves as the Chair of the Risk Committee at RFBS and is passionate about giving back to the community through his work with several non-profit organizations.

Kelvin and his wife reside in Richmond, and enjoy traveling, running, and playing tennis together in their free time.

Nazir Hirji

Director

Nazir recently retired from Xerox after 45 years of service. His last role was Global Director for Service Operations. During his time at Xerox, Naz worked on the United Way fundraising campaign for 10 Years.

Naz and his wife Shah, have lived in Richmond for the past 46 years and have 2 children. Naz would now like to give back to the community through volunteering and serving on the Board of the Richmond Food Bank Society. He is also active in the Ismaili community as a volunteer.
In his spare time, Naz likes to play squash, read, go for walks and enjoys listening to music.

Hajira Hussain

Executive Director

Hajira is the Executive Director of the Richmond Food Bank Society and reports to the Richmond Food Bank Society's board. Hajira has over 15 years of experience in program planning, fundraising, stakeholder engagement, leadership development and operations management in the non profit sector.

Hajira joined the Richmond Food Bank Society in 2013 as its Volunteers Coordinator and in 2017, she was promoted to the role of the organization's Executive Director. Under her leadership, a number of strategic initiatives and accomplishments around food access and distribution came to fruition. Hajira also serves on the board of Food Banks BC.

Hajira has lived and worked in India and the USA before moving to Canada in 2011. She has a Bachelors' degree in Applied Nutrition and Public Health from Osmania University and a Master’s in Health Services Administration from California State University, San Bernardino. She lives in Richmond with her husband and two children. Hajira enjoys spending time with her family and exploring the outdoors.