Kim Savage has taken over the reins at Surrey Food Bank as its new executive director.
Savage comes to the job with decades of experience in the non-profit sector. Savage's first non-profit job was with the Union Gospel Mission in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Since then, she has worked with several different organizations where she helped build the organizations' expertise and capacity.
Collaboration and partnership are two of the key focuses for Savage as she takes on this new role.
As a longtime resident of Surrey, she has seen firsthand how the city has grown and some of the challenges that residents face.
"(I'm) really excited to actually be part of the solution," Savage said, "and spend the next chunk of my time focused on, you know, really establishing the Surrey Food Bank with other community partners and stakeholders that are addressing different parts of not just the challenges, but also the opportunities, like partnering with businesses that are seeing success here."
Surrey is expected to be the largest city in the province by 2029, according to BC Stats, and Savage wants to ensure Surrey Food Bank can keep up with the needs as the city continues to grow.
"There's so much need in the community, and I want to work with our staff team and our donors and our community to really grow the food bank to meet the needs of what we're seeing out there," Savage said.
The food bank serves clients in Surrey and North Delta who live north of 40 Avenue and helps more than 17,000 clients monthly, with 42 per cent being under 19.
Savage also wants to expand what the food bank can offer.
"Food banks, historically, are quite good at sort of the staple products, but as the need is increased and inflationary pressures and incomes and all that sort of thing, we also want that food basket to be really nutritious with fresh fruits and vegetables — you know, milk, eggs, protein, that sort of thing," Savage said.
"So we're gonna really focus on that, in addition to just sort of being able to expand and meet the demand."
She would also like to find ways to work with other food banks in the area.
"I'm a big proponent of collaborating together and working together," Savage said. "We're potentially serving slightly different segments of the population within Surrey, and I think there can be some real benefit on figuring out ways to sort of work together and sort of pick up the slack where, where they find some and vice versa."
Businesses looking to partner with Surrey Food Bank can contact its community partnerships manager, Vijay Naidu.
