Left to right: Larry Vinegar, Stan Shaw, Lloyd Baron, Michelle Dodek, Steve Schacter and Marcy Schwartzman. (photo from Marcy Schwartzman)
There are roughly 1,200 people who rely on Jewish Family Services food hubs in the Greater Vancouver area, and much of the fresh produce they receive is due to the efforts of Larry Vinegar and Marcy Schwartzman.
Each month, JFS delivers approximately 2,500 bags of groceries to its clients, which include families with children, seniors, new immigrants, people with disabilities and other individuals in need. In 2021, during the pandemic, JFS established the food hubs, in partnership with synagogues and other organizations. The food is collected and distributed, with the help of a team of volunteers, at a central hub in Vancouver on 3rd Avenue called the Kitchen.
The hubs, situated in Vancouver, the North Shore, Burnaby, Surrey, the Tri-Cities and Richmond, offer fruit and vegetables. The program does not provide any meats, poultry or shellfish, and ensures that items are available for clients who follow a kosher diet.
“Most of the clients are people who are struggling to make ends meet, and your rent has to get paid. It often takes primary resources to pay your rent, and then food and other necessities come second. A lot of people are at a point where, at the end of the month, they don’t have money to put food on their tables, so they’re looking for assistance for that,” Schwartzman said.
She added that, if people do not have enough money, they choose the least expensive options, which are often not the healthiest. Thus, a community kitchen that supplies nutritious produce can be vital to a person’s well-being, she said.
The Independent caught up with Schwartzman and Vinegar on a spring afternoon. They were about to prepare the ground for planting on a Lower Mainland farm, the produce from which would be distributed by JFS.
On Dec. 31, 2020, the couple suffered a tragedy, losing their 31-year-old son, Maxwell (Moishe) Vinegar, in a skiing accident. Prior to his passing, the family had had a conversation about food security, which reflected on a period when their son was young, and the family would deliver food for the food bank for Hanukkah.
“We had a lot of conversations with our kids about what it means to be a member of your community and be responsible and look out for our other community members,” Schwartzman said. “That December, around Hanukkah time, we were saying to him, ‘Hey, you should go help at the food bank.’ And he said, ‘I’m busy working, Dad, you’re retired, you should go do it.’”
In trying to come out of their grief, Vinegar and Schwartzman started their food efforts with donations people made after Max’s death, which they requested be directed to JFS. A friend of theirs who owned a farm in the Okanagan planted an acre of squash – a sign notes that all the squash growing on the acre is for JFS in Moishe’s memory.
“We went up to help look after that for a couple of weekends that first summer, and that sort of got us thinking that maybe we can find somewhere to grow food to provide it to Jewish Family Services,” Schwartzman said.
The next summer, Vinegar spoke to a blueberry farmer in Richmond, who put the couple in touch with a family that lets them use their half-acre backyard, at no cost, to grow vegetables for the food bank.
“We’ve grown a variety of things over the years, but what grows the best there is zucchini and squash, butternut and acorn, and we also have green beans,” Schwartzman said. “We’ve been generously supported by West Coast Seeds.”
Further efforts include growing 300 plants at Richmond Jewish Day School last year, building relationships with local farmers, and spreading the word about tax benefits for those who donate excess crops to bolster food security.
“Larry has been quite instrumental and not afraid to go talk to different farmers around the Lower Mainland, just at the end of the season, to say you didn’t sell your crop, we’ll be happy to come pick it up,” Schwartzman said.
Vinegar has also developed a relationship with Costco after he walked into one of their stores and spoke with a manager about supplying unsold goods to food banks instead of disposing of them. All Costco stores give away food that is getting close to its stale date, said Schwartzman. “They donate to a different organization each day.”
In 2024, Vinegar and Schwartzman were recipients of the inaugural JFS Lighting the Way Award. At the presentation, they were described as “embodiments of JFS’s values, demonstrating innovation in their commitment to social good.”
“We are grateful for the help of many friends and volunteers who help us plant, tend and harvest,” said Schwartzman. “We couldn’t do what we do without their help!”
For more on JFS’s food and other services, go to jfsvancouver.ca.
Sam Margolis has written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.