Community Spotlight: the South Asian Food Pantry

When Tanushree Pillai first came to Canada, it was a tough transition: a completely new neighbourhood, a need to make new connections, and sometimes some struggles.

“I remember going hungry for days and days because I didn’t have enough money. I didn’t want to bother my family. I didn’t have enough money to pay rent and to buy food,” says Pillai. “I ended up using the food bank because there was no other option.”

While it was a relief to have access to food through options in New Westminster, she realized some of it wasn’t culturally appropriate. She’d receive bread or turkey, but wondered about food for those who couldn’t have pork for religious reasons. The thought of that struggle became amplified during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pillai adds that while there are some food bank options in Surrey that offer such options, not everyone has the ability to travel every week to access that.

“There are times when you just want those things. Things that are tied closely to culture, and while people are grateful for the food, there is still this huge gap,” explains Pillai.

She decided to apply for a Neighbourhood Small Grant to fill this gap that she saw. The grant is meant to help local, grassroots ideas come to life. Pillai had also been working on the idea before the pandemic, which meant she had to pivot. The original idea was to use the funding for culturally-specific items, and hand them out at a local park.

“I had to scramble to change the program, but I still wanted to keep it intact. I wanted it to be specifically for South Asian newcomers, and I wanted to help with the grocery bills.” Pillai says she decided to switch to a digital gift card, but couldn’t find gift cards for South Asian stores. “I ended up doing a big box store gift card, but they appreciated it.”

While Pillai is committed to growing the initiative, she says the need for this speaks to a larger conversation around the struggles that immigrants to Canada face. Combine that with some of the cultural stigmas around asking for help, and it can put someone in an uncomfortable situation.

“[The perception around their circumstances is], ‘you must have done something.’ ‘You must be lazy.’ ‘You must not be willing to do extra hours.’ It’s a lot of ableist attitude, and not any of it is from this understanding that a lot of the systems of oppression keep us in the margins,” she explains. “It’s really hard to fight them as an individual; as a newcomer.”

The help that the digital gift card provides is also immediate. Everything is done through email so people don’t have to wait in a physical line to receive the gift card.

“I remember covering my face because even though I was new in the country and nobody knew me, there was just this stigma: ‘Oh my god. What if somebody sees me? I’m in front of a food bank?’ ” Pillai hopes people aren’t ashamed to ask for help, and adds she has seen a change in the stigma of doing so since COVID happened.

“It shouldn’t have to take a pandemic for it to be made okay that people seek help. It should be acceptable that someone is struggling. We should be able to seek help because of the resources, because they’re there,” she says.

For now, Pillai is looking forward to handing out another round of gift cards. To follow up, she says recipients will be able to meet, enjoy some chai and samosas, and get to know one another. This adds another level of community to the initiative, because they’re able to get know others who are in a similar situation.

“I am really hoping for another round of funding in the next coming months,” says Pillai, “and then [to] eventually make this, probably, into a non-profit.”