The VanDyck Foundation
The VanDyck Foundation is a private operating foundation governed by a restricted charitable purpose trust, rather than a Board of Directors. I, Leah Dyck, am the Trustee, and I’m also the Founder of the Fresh Food Weekly nutrition-based intervention program (run through The VanDyck Foundation), with charitable status number 77364 5148 RR0001.
Mission Statement: “Providing a free, fresh and locally-sourced food delivery service to low-income families.”
Charitable Purpose: To reduce the long-term demand for health care services.
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Vision Statement: To breakdown every single barrier preventing low-income households from eating three meals a day.
Leah Dyck
​The VanDyck Foundation raised money to purchase and receive wholesale fresh, locally-sourced, high-quality foods, which accumulated to a collective retail value of +$362K between July 2022 and January 2024. To accomplish this, +1,000 volunteers were coordinated to deliver this food to the front doorsteps of the same low-income families on a biweekly basis, with the exception of holidays, in which we gave out additional one-time holiday meal boxes to anyone who was low-income (not just disabled and elderly people). This created food security within a very targeted population group; about 82 percent of recipients were on a disability benefit while the rest were seniors and received one or more social security benefits.
By January 2024, the Fresh Food Weekly program was delivering to the same 90 low-income families every other week. This amounted to 206 on-going program participants.
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Lived Experience played a key role in the development of the Fresh Food Weekly, as the program itself was designed, founded, and run by myself. I was also a recipient of my own food security program.
Business Principals
Ensure sound stewardship of donor funds by having protocols put in place to verify beneficiaries are actually of vulnerable population groups. This is done through proof-of-income documentation.
Only purchase food at a discount. Our buying power allows us to do this. Never pay retail prices.
Buy locally as much as possible.
Serve the most vulnerable population groups first.
Build a brand with a strong public-facing (a brand that engages in the community, i.e., the kid's cooking workshops are an excellent example of achieving this).
Never stop evolving and adapting the program to have the highest impact possible on the lives of the people it serves.
