Chosen Charity: September 29, 2020
Basics for Babies is JR Country’s partnership with the Lower Mainland Food Bank’s to assist them in providing for the tiniest in need.
JR Country’s Basics for Babies program began with a new dad, General Manager of JR Country at the time, recognizing the challenges faced by new parents and wondering how those with less than he had made it work. He reached out to his local food bank to see if there was a program designed to assist families, specifically those with new babies. There was not. And so, Basics for Babies was born.
In 1994, Basics for Babies launched as a partnership with the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society and raised just less than $1000. A few years later, it grew to include other Lower Mainland Food Banks like Surrey and Langley, reaching a high watermark of $264,000 in 2006. Food Banks BC took over the distribution of the funds raised. Then in 2017, for the first time in its 23 years, the program was able to fully meet the needs of the 11 Lower Mainland Food Banks it was partnered with.
The program now aims to serve all 100 Food Banks under the Food Banks BC umbrella.