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Squamish Helping Hands Logo

A safe and healthy community for all.

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Food Access and Security

In 2025, Squamish Helping Hands served and delivered 71,863 meals for community members including:

  • 39,851 meals served on-site for our twice-daily meal services
  • 29,321 school meals
  • 2,961 Meals on Wheels delivered to local seniors

Every single day, a group of staff and dedicated volunteers provide hot meals at the Under One Roof facility. We ensure that any resident who is hungry or unhoused can be nourished. We also operate a food bank and deliver Meals on Wheels.

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What is food insecurity?

Food insecurity is the inadequate or insecure access to food due to financial constraints. It is a serious public health problem. Our team is actively working to shift away from emergency food services toward a longer-term community-based strategy that addresses food insecurity, individual wellness, and community resiliency in Squamish.
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Under One Roof Kitchen

In 2025, we rescued 102,818 kilograms of food from local grocers, retailers, and farmers and repurposed it into 71,863 meals including twice-daily community meals, Meals on Wheels, and school lunches.

Every single day, a group of staff and dedicated volunteers provide free lunch, dinner, and serve snacks to help nourish our community. Everyone is welcome.

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School Meals

Many Squamish families are struggling to provide regular meals for their school-aged children. Hunger negatively affects a child’s ability to perform, learn and grow both physically and mentally. In 2025, we provided 29,321 school lunches in a school year.

As the needs increase for housing, support, and outreach services, we have passed on the scho0l meals program to our valued partner, Squamish Climate Action Network (CAN). 

 

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Meals on Wheels

In 2025, we delivered 2,692 hot meals to Squamish seniors through our Meals on Wheels program.

Our volunteers deliver hot, nutritious meals and a friendly visit to those who cannot always prepare meals for themselves due to limited mobility, disability, illness or low income.

Volunteers deliver meals to clients in their homes, taking the time to chat and assess their wellbeing.

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Squamish Food Bank

In spring 2025, Squamish Helping Hands formally merged with our long-standing and trusted partner, the Squamish Food Bank, to form one board and one staffing structure that increased our operational and financial efficiency.

The Squamish Food Bank at Under One Roof, provides safe, dignified and secure access to nutritious food for all in times of need by offering ongoing food distribution. We operate a low-waste community food hub where food is rescued, repurposed and shared.

In 2025, we had 10,754 visits to the food bank from individuals and families–an average of 896 unique visits per month, which is an increase of nearly 10 percent from 2024.

Our focus is to create a safe and dignified grocery-store style shopping experience for all. Everyone has the right to healthy food, and there is enough healthy food for everyone. Our community is made up of a diverse group of folks from all walks of life who come together in this space and feel comfortable getting nourishing food in a market-style setting.

The Squamish Food Bank keeps the following hours:

  • MONDAY: closed
  • TUESDAY: 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.
  • WEDNESDAY: 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.
  • THURSDAY: 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
  • FRIDAY: closed
  • SATURDAY: 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
  • SUNDAYS: closed

Food Recovery

Our team works tirelessly to recover about 2,000 kilograms of food each week from farms, retailers and restaurants to turn it into nutritious meals for Squamish residents. Volunteers are the heart and soul of the Market and we couldn’t serve our clients without them. Volunteers spend about 200 hours a month sorting donated food and preparing meals.

Donated and recovered food is also repurposed in the Under One Roof kitchen to create delicious soups and meals. This important service spares over 100,000 kilos of food from going into our landfill annually, reduces our food costs, and redistributes food where it is needed most.

In 2014, our previous executive director Maureen Mackell filmed a video with Shaw TV to showcase the Squamish Food Bank (pictured here in its former location at 37930 3rd Ave)

Land Acknowledgement

We acknowledge with gratitude that we live and work on the ancestral and unceded territory of the Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) Nation. For generations, the Squamish people have gathered at the sacred confluence of the Squamish, Stawamus, and Mamquam Rivers. We honour their enduring presence, wisdom, and connection to the land, and commit to listening, learning, and integrating Indigenous knowledge into our work.
Everyone is welcome here.

Contact Us

100- 37871 Third Ave
Squamish, BC V8B 1B8
604.390.3000
info@shhs.ca
Squamish Helping Hands Operates 24 hrs/day, 7 days a week
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