Highlighting Quest Clients and Their Stories
With more than 10,000 clients in Metro Vancouver, Quest Non-Profit Grocery Markets provide a dignified, affordable, and sustainable shopping experience for people facing food insecurity for many different reasons. Our new client focus series will introduce you to them.
Imagine having to walk away from everything you’ve built — not once, but twice. Leaving your war-torn home with only two suitcases, and then, just when you begin to settle in a safe country, a devastating earthquake forces you to leave and start all over again.
This is the reality for Olga, her husband, and their teenage son, who fled from Ukraine to Turkey, only to suffer an earthquake, causing them to seek safe harbor here in Canada.
Before Olga became a Quest client in 2023, it was a struggle to feed her family. Luckily, the staff at Heart Tattoo Society in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, where Olga was working as a volunteer, referred her to Quest. She has since recommended Quest to other Ukrainian families, knowing many wouldn’t consider food banks ‘for them’ as they were working professionals back home. But Quest is different. Our markets provide a shopping experience like any other grocery store, allowing clients to choose the items they want and need, but at a price they can afford.
Olga is delighted with the wide selection of healthy products she can buy from Quest.
Being from Eastern Europe, where most people have a vegetable garden, the fresh produce Quest offers is highly prized by her family. Other favourites include energy/protein bars for her son’s lunch box, frozen bread, and coffee. Beyond groceries, she appreciates the high-quality vitamin supplements and clothing available.
She’d love to see more meat and fish options, items Quest is always in need of, as well as big bags of pierogi and coleslaw, and fermented foods like kimchi.
Quest is more than just a market for Olga and her family; it has helped them form a community.
Quest’s Surrey market team made them feel welcome and valued, particularly Rob, who took the time to introduce her to other Ukrainian clients, helping her family feel less alone. The family was heartbroken when the Surrey market was destroyed by fire earlier this year. Now, they must travel much further to our Burnaby market, adding stress and expense to their week.
Helping others and holding on to hope
Olga was an English teacher back home. Here, she works as an administrative assistant because her qualifications aren’t recognized. She still finds time to volunteer at a local food bank and teach English to other Ukrainians forced to flee their homeland.
The family is grateful for all they have, but lives with agonizing uncertainty. Their work permits expire in 2027, and without Permanent Residency, they face an unknown future with no home left to return to in Ukraine. For now, they are just taking one day at a time.
You can ensure Olga and other families like hers have access to meat, fish, and other grocery essentials by giving a monthly gift to Quest’s Shopping with Dignity Fund.
