Where Food Finds Its Highest Purpose - Food Banks BC 2026 Conference
At Loop, we believe food that farmers worked hard to grow should go to people first, always. What's left over becomes feed for animals, which in turn grows more food for people. It's a simple principle, but living it out takes a whole community of people who care about the same thing.
That's part of what made the Food Banks BC Conference so energizing.
On June 22 and 23, Jaime, Christine, and Rheta attended as Loop exhibitors, staffing the Loop table across both days and connecting with people on the front lines of food recovery across BC. Jaime joined a panel alongside a Save-On-Foods manager and a food bank director. There, Jaime shared Loop's perspective on making food recovery work across the supply chain, a reminder of how many hands it takes to ensure nothing goes to waste.
For Rheta, some of the best moments happened at the table itself. "One of the best parts was meeting food bank directors and managers that Loop is working with. It was great to put faces to names, reconnect, and hear more about the work happening in communities across BC."
Christine felt the same pull. "I appreciated the chance to meet a couple of food bank directors and staff who I have emailed about scheduling matters for years, but never before met in person." Talking animals, food rescue, and Loop's belief in highest and best use of food, she noted, turns out to be an entertaining way to spend a day.
The exhibitor floor offered its own kind of inspiration. Amid the other exhibitors (many helping Food Banks simplify record keeping and grant proposals), two organizations stood out for their creativity. Les Verts brings compact hydroponic units into schools, churches, and community spaces - growing food where people already gather. Soap for Hope partners with hotels to recover gently used hygiene products and linens, remaking soap into small pebbles and distributing them through charities, keeping useful things out of landfills and in people's hands. Different sectors, different approaches and yet the same underlying instinct: don't waste what still has value.
As for the highlight of the conference? Christine may have had an edge over the rest of the team as she brought her one-year-old son along:
He may be the reason I spent half my time talking human babies, not animal babies, but he also drew many smiles and certainly made my time there more relaxed and enjoyable.
It's the kind of gathering that reminds you why this work matters. Not just the logistics, but the people behind it. Food banks, community organizations and programs like Loop, all working toward the same thing: making sure what's grown and made gets used well, and that the people who need it most are always first in line.
