Highlights of Lotus Light Charity Society Community and Charitable Activities 2020

Lotus Light Charity Society Contribution List in 2020:

For the past 27 years, Lotus Light Charity Society Vancouver has held numerous projects to benefit local communities. In 2020, despite the Covid-19 pandemic, LLCS is still actively helping the community to cope with new programs that have benefitted thousands of low-income families, seniors, children and homeless across the Lower Mainland.

Lotus Light Covid-19 Community Caring Drive: the charity launched this special program to deliver much needed food to folks particularly affected by the pandemic across the Lower Mainland. Since April 2020, by working together with many of our community partners, 320,000 pounds of food have been delivered and distributed. The program has benefitted struggling people across Metro Vancouver: East Vancouver, Burnaby, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Richmond, Surrey, Pitt Meadows, Mission and as far as Merritt.
LLCS Emergency Food Hamper Drive: Since late April 2020, with generous donations from produce wholesalers and grocery sponsors in Vancouver, LLCS has directly distributed over 60,000 pounds of fresh produce and vegetables, as well as 25,000 pounds of non-perishable food items including canned goods, cookies, energy bars and pastas. All of this has gone to help folks affected by Covid-19. LLCS has also distributed enough food for 18,400 meals from our public distribution events in the parking lots of Pink Pearl Restaurant and Britannia Community Centre.
The Charity usually donates groceries to the Community Children Food Backpack Program for low-income families every week through the Strathcona Community Centre’s Food Security Program. Given the closing of the community centre, LLCS re-directed the usual donations to the Stratchcona Emergency Food Hub, which is run by the Strathcona Community Centre staff and volunteers, and which provides food to the residents living in social housing.
LLCS Annual Community Caring Day: LLCS has held its fourth annual “Lotus Light Community Caring Day” on June 17th, 2020 at Lotus Light Institute, headquarters of Lotus Light Charity Society. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, BC schools and business are still slow coping with our new norm. On this year’s Lotus Light Day, the Charity is focusing on helping the inner-city school hamper programs. We donated to four inner-city schools 320 hampers with 10,000 gift items, which included fresh produce, fruit, non-perishable bags of rice, cans of pasta and tuna, breakfast cereal cups, chocolate, mug and cookies, personal hygiene items, soap, toothpaste, masks and stationery.
Lotus Light Covid-19 Emergency Soup Kitchen: Lotus Light volunteers have been preparing meals to help the homeless in our local community. Since July, over 4,000 free hot meals have served.
LLCS Mask Drive: LLCS has donated 25,000 masks to help those in need. Two third of the masks are sewed by volunteers, more than 40 partner organizations have helped to distribute the masks to low-income families, local food banks, inner-city schools, and other local nonprofits.
LLCS Hamper for Inner City School
LLCS Food Recovery Program: LLCS actively collaborates with food recovery networks FoodMesh and FoodRescue, which have delivered tens of thousands of pounds of food to inner-city schoolchildren, families, seniors and homeless each month in partnership with local food producers, distributors and community agencies.
LLCS Free Tax Clinic Program: This year, the Charity has also run a successful Virtual Income Tax Clinic to help the low-income seniors, individuals and families who need free assistance with their taxes.