People for a Healthy Community (PHC)
Our last fiscal year, from July 31, 2024 to June 30, 2025, was a very busy one. It was marked by a significant leadership transition, as our new Executive Director, Christina Rajsic, joined us in April and immediately hit the ground running.
Weekly Grocery Food Program
Our Weekly Grocery Food Program continues to serve a growing number of community members. This reflects the national trend that approximately 1 in 4 Canadians are struggling with food insecurity to feed themselves and their families. Over the last two and a half years, the Weekly Grocery Program has grown by 149%, demonstrating the urgent and increasing need for food support on Gabriola. Participant increase over the years:
• March 2023 – 161 people on average
• March 2024 – 195 people on average (21% increase in one year)
• September 2025 – 401 people on average (105.5% increase in over a year)
Currently, the program is open Tuesdays 10am–2pm and Wednesdays 11am–4pm. We plan to expand hours by opening in January on Thursdays 4-7PM and Friday afternoons depending on availability.
This will make the program more accessible—especially for working participants whose schedules do not align well with current hours. Our goal remains the same: to provide consistent, reliable, and sustainable access to nutritious food for our community.
School Hot Lunch Programs
Our School Hot Lunch Program continues every Wednesday, providing 150 meals per week—that’s 8,320 hot lunches a year to Gabriola Elementary School students.
In addition, we provide:
• 5,850 sandwiches annually for the Emergency Lunch Program.
• Breakfast and snack items to ensure children can learn without hunger affecting their wellbeing.
Garden Program
Our Garden Program continues to teach garden literacy and food skills to school children, in collaboration with the Parents Advisory Council. Children often arrive in the gardens we lease from the Commons asking, “Where’s the kale?”—a testament to how much they enjoy and value this learning.
The gardens produce over 1,200 pounds of fresh produce annually, used across all our food programs. In the coming year, we plan to expand garden-based education to include children, youth, and adults who want to learn how to grow food.
Sunflowers and Volunteers
In honour of our volunteers, we grew and distributed more than 500 sunflower seedlings, planted with the help of the elementary children. These were shared with volunteers, community organizations, and seniors. The sunflower’s growth and resilience reflect our community’s own spirit of supporting one another.
Seniors’ Programs
Our seniors’ programming is now fully subscribed.
• The Adult Day Program – SUSO (caregiver support): Monday and Friday lunches: 30 participants, with a waiting list.
• Functional Fitness: 56 monthly participants.
• Wellness Wednesdays: 32 monthly participants.
• Monthly Seniors’ Lunch: 40 participants.
• Hospice and Grief Support volunteers continue to visit participants, offering peer and social support.
These lunches are lively gatherings—so lively, in fact, that we recently received a visit from the RCMP responding to a noise complaint. The band was rocking, and everyone was dancing. As we like to say: what happens at the Seniors’ Lunch stays at the Seniors’ Lunch.
Transportation Programs
Our Medigo Program has provided 3,414 km of free rides in its first 10 months of 2025, helping residents attend non-emergency Vancouver Island Health appointments. We plan to increase driver availability and expand the program to support those with mobility challenges, including wheelchair and walker users.
Our Taxi Saver Program continues to help subsidize transportation for those who need it.
Outreach & Homelessness Support
In collaboration with the Commons Outreach and Gabriola Outreach, we support 20–30 individuals in the community who are homeless or unhoused.
Our Soup Socials continue:
• Tuesdays in partnership with the Fellowship Church from 11am-1pm and;
• Fridays with Christ Church Gabriola from 10:30am-12:30pm.
Together, we serve 4,680 bowls of soup each year—a warm, welcoming meal available to everyone.
Staff, Volunteers & Collaboration
All of this work is carried out by PHC’s small but dedicated staff team, which expanded in 2025 and will continue to grow in 2026. Alongside us are 175 volunteers, whose time, skills, and compassion make our work possible. Their contributions are numerous and invaluable.
Our many initiatives rely on strong partnerships:
• Collaboration with the Auxiliary Grub Huggers and Meals on Wheels.
• Holiday support through the Lions Club and Fire Department on the Holiday Bureau and Toy Drive.
• Many more community partners who help strengthen our programs.
Fundraising & Community Support
A major highlight of the year was our successful Sunflower Campaign, which reached its goal of $120,000—funds essential to covering the budget shortfall in the Weekly Grocery Program. The generosity of individuals and local businesses was truly heart-warming.
This year we also:
• Hosted a “Tomato to Table” fundraiser with Burro Rosa, which raised our profile and brought in new donors.
• Partnered with Gabriola Artists for Peace on their dove auction, raising $4,700—so successful that it will now be an annual event.
• Thanks to the Ravenskill Orchards Harvest Initiative and the collective efforts of our community, we were the grateful recipients of $7,209 from apple donations made to Ravenskill.
• We continue to provide Gabriola 101 for newcomers in the absence of the Welcome Wagon.
• We attended the Community Volunteer Open House at the Community Hall and had the opportunity to meet community members, introduce ourselves, and connect with those interested in volunteering on Gabriola.
Emergency Food Recovery
During a power outage last winter, we partnered with Nesters to recover perishable food. Staff came in on their day off to collect, sort, refrigerate, and redistribute the food.
More than 20,000 lbs of food were shared with the community—and importantly, diverted from the landfill.
We are looking forward to seeing you in 2026.
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