We love to hear from You!

Whether it is about what's in the Good Food Box this week (good or bad) or an idea for a new program, or an idea on how we can improve an exisiting program, you always have such good ideas for us.

Your letters thanking us help us to know that what we do really does make a difference. So please...write to us!

From: Cookie Roscoe
To: debbie@foodshare.net
Sent: Tuesday, December 13, 2005 4:53 PM
Subject: Thank You Good Food Box

Dear Good Food Box,

I watched a video a few days ago of my daughter when she was 2 as we coached her how to say "Coca Cola", a feat she could only approximate with "Caca Lola", while she ate her lunch. It made me realize how much I owe the Good Food Box, and how far I've come in the 6 years since then.

Thank you that both of my children are healthy and happy and love snacks like carrots and apples and to sit down to a meal full of fresh vegetables flavoured by a variety of cultural influences that we've been exposed to through you. I love the recipies that come with the box, and I've learned that I can cook everything you send me, something I thought was pretty impossible at first.

I came to the Good Food Box 6 years ago when a neighbour gave me a 'real' strawberry from one of their spring boxes, and I was struck at how it tasted just like strawberries used to when I was a kid. I'd thought my tastebuds had just got old. I was hooked. I got my local co-ordinator Barry to order me up a box too. At first, Barry had to call me 2 or sometimes 3 times to come and pick up my boxes, I just didn't get what the rush was. I'd always forget and have to ask him for bags, and was privately a little annoyed that I couldn't just take the box and bring it back next time. Thank you, Barry, for being so patient with me, and gently explaining your thoughts about the boxes and how the system all worked.

I became a convert. I told everyone about it. Eventually I got so many people interested that I got 5 neighbours together and became a co-ordinator myself. By this time I had 2 kids, 2 and 4, and we were able to get through a Large Organic box every two weeks. This surprised me alot. I was throwing out less food than I had before, and I started to understand apples with blemishes and how good real green beans are. I was surprised too, at the visible difference I was seeing when I lifted the lid on my Food Box and the supposedly stocked "organic" section at the supermarket. The supermarket 'organic' section had carrots, onions, sometimes some peppers, and maybe broccoli. The Food Box was a riot of pears and peppers and squash and tomatoes of every shape and colour, not to mention fresh garlic that tasted like candy, 5 different kinds of eggplant, and something called sunchokes. Broccoli and Cauliflower in season, cabbages and strawberries and the incredible rawly edible asparagus, all appeared in their own time to bless the seasons. I was such a zealot that a friend took me to Karma Co-op, and I joined up immediatly.

I started to get a conventional box along with my Large Organic, and in order to use up extra plums when I got a basket of them in each of my boxes one year, I learned how to make jam. Indescribable satisfaction followed as I gave out homemade rhubarb jam, plum jam, and an invention of my own, Kiwi Mango or Kwango jam for Christmas that year. The next year I got peaches from my neighbours' tree, and pears from another, and now know the abiding satisfaction of going to the pantry shelf to dust my creations and check the seals, making sure all is in order as I gloat just a little.

You made me a homemaker, Good Food Box. Now, I rarely go to the supermarket. If you'd told me I would live like this 6 years ago, I would have thought you mad. Now, I think I was mad when I ate only frozen, canned or pre-prepped food. I can't imagine feeding children that stuff. The lunch my then 2 year old was eating in the video I mentioned was prepackaged noodles with tartrazine, a known carcinogen, and MSG. I knew then I didn't want to feed her those things, but I didn't believe I could avoid it. The Good Food Box patiently showed me, every two weeks, that I have choices. Thank you to all the volunteers and to everyone who works in the offices. You've made a huge difference in so many lives, and we're truly grateful. Best of the Holiday Season to you, and Happy New Year.

Roscoe Handford

From: Geraldine
To: 'Delsie Hyatt'
Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2007 9:25 AM
Subject: Foodshare idea

Dear Delsie,
I had a phone call from a new Good Food Box customer yesterday (referred to me by you—thank you!), and she asked me whether we take orders a year in advance. She said that they do that in Europe so that the farmers are assured of a market for their produce, and they know how much to plant.
Isn’t that a great idea? I just wanted to pass that on to you, on the off chance that it might be as new an idea to you as it is to me, and just to let you know that customers are asking for it. This lady wanted to commit to a year’s worth of Small Organic Boxes in advance so that the farmers would be assured of her business and would know how much to plant.
It would be wonderful if we could take our idea that far!
Geraldine

From: DR
To: Janet Armstrong
Sent: Tuesday, January 09, 2007 9:42 AM
Subject: Thanks for a wonderful course

Hi Janet,

I've been meaning to write to you for ages but have had a lot on my plate. 
I wanted to thank all of you for the most fantastic course. It was so great to have something to look forward to for eight weeks and it was such fun to do. All instructors, assistants etc. were so kind and compassionate.
 
I would like to thank the Breast Cancer for arranging it, do you know who I should contact?
 
Best wishes for the new year.
 
D

Daniel,

Thank you to both you and Karine for taking the time to show me around. It was great to meet the project staff and the participants. I had a most enjoyable visit and learned lots!

One of the things that struck me at the warehouse was the respect and positive team dynamic not only between participants but also between Daniel and the participants. Great work guys! We'll talk soon.

Sharon

Dear Delsie,
 
Thank you so much for your Christmas present to the people coordinating the Good Food Box pickup points!  Chikuyu just came to my door with a beautiful package from you: a pineapple!  Dates! That beautiful calendar which I was really hoping we would get again this year—I liked it so much last year, perfect size, and sturdy and full of good information!  And it was all beautifully wrapped!  How did you even find time to THINK of doing this, much less actually to do it, with all the work you’ve had to do with the big move?
 
You know, I brag about Foodshare all the time—about the integrity of the operation (the credits, the careful packing, the lovely delivery people) and about Foodshare’s priorities.  You really didn’t have to do this for us.  No one would have expected anything.  But you did do it.  That’s the kind of people you are. 
 
The world is not generally so thoughtful, not so inclined to extravagant gestures of kindness right out of the clear blue sky.  It puts new heart into me to see that a whole organization is motivated by such principles.  Foodshare on so many levels is a light in a dark world.
 
Thank you for your gift, for the encouragement of the example you set for us, and for letting us be part of what you are.
 
Yours very truly,
 
Geraldine

From: Lisa
Date: February 10, 2006
To: Delsie Hyatt Subject:
Re: Delivery Information

Hi Delsie,

Thank you so much for your help in setting up a new Good Food Box stop at University of Toronto's Graduate House. The first delivery on Wednesday was amazing, and everyone was very pleased with their boxes. Very few people at Graduate House have vehicles and we're all either living on student loans or small stipends, so the Good Food Box is perfect for us.

I had so many people thank me for setting up the deliveries, so I wanted to share with you how much the boxes were appreciated.

There have been so many repeat orders for the next delivery, so it will certainly become a regular thing for us. Our residence is open year-round and already people are looking forward to local summer produce :)

Thanks again,

Lisa

From: Mark Branov
To: delsie@foodshare.net
Sent: Wednesday, October 26, 2005 6:28 PM
Subject: Re: EF volunteers for Tuesday

Dear Delsie,

Thank you very much for the informative tour yesterday. We all really enjoyed it, and were left with a very positive impression of your organization. I was struck by the sense that you have a lot of good people working together towards a common cause that they believe in, which is a beautiful thing to see, actually, and kind of rare! I especially liked out talk with the gentleman running the compost operation. He had some very interesting comments, and I was impressed at how, at the end of the process, FoodShare actually gives back to the land from where the food is grown.

In any case, [our volunteers] are all eager to get started. Please expect them at 9 am on Tuesday, November 1st… not wearing shirts and ties, and ready to work!

If there are any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me at any time.

Sincerely,

Mark

From: yona
To: debbie@foodshare.net
Sent: Tuesday, December 13, 2005 7:30 PM
Subject: thanks

Hi Debbie,

I came to a foodshare presentation that you gave a couple of weeks ago.
Since then, I have met up with Karine, who gave me a tour and overview of the organization, and spoken with Susan Butler about the schools programs.
You are doing such amazing work at Foodshare! I look forward to learning more about the organization and possibly making connections with Vancouver groups; I will be starting my phd at UBC as of January in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems (formerly faculty of Agricultural Sciences).

all the best with your continued foodie work,
Yona