We’re proud to announce we’ve given our homepage and the rest of our website a facelift for 2011! We wanted to make our site even easier for our clients to navigate and instantly be able to find the service they are looking for, so we decided to make two big ol’ buttons on our homepage to take both our corporate clients as well as our clients looking to plan social gatherings right where they need to be.

We’ve also updated the site with brand new food photos as well as updated and expanded menus in most sections!

What do you think of our new website design? We’d love to hear your thoughts.

…for the Drew Cooks! van making it’s way around the Lower Mainland!

Let us know what you think of the design by leaving a comment on our blog.

I wanted to take a moment to share some information about a program throughout the Greater Vancouver Area that some may not be familiar with: The Food Runners Program.

When most people think about a food bank, they think of donating non-perishable canned goods, however the Vancouver Food Bank has the Food Runners program set up to take donations of all sorts, perishable produce, meats, anything you can imagine. In fact, they will send refrigerated trucks to your house, kitchen, or restaurant to pick up donations anywhere in the Greater Vancouver area!

I encourage anyone having a large gathering or BBQ this summer to consider donating surplus food to this great program.

For more information or to schedule a pickup, contact Will, manager of the Food Runners Program at 604-834-7457.

Over the last 7 days, Drew Cooks! has been providing lunch catering to the numerous staff and volunteers from Medecins sans Frontieres/Doctors without Borders and their exhibit set up in front of the Vancouver Public Library.

The exhibit was entitled “Refugee Camp in the Heart of the City”, and is in the process of traveling to major cities across North America. Here is some information from their website about the exhibit itself:

Guided by MSF aid workers, visitors are asked to imagine that they are among the millions of people fleeing violence and persecution in, for example, Somalia, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, or Sudan.

The exhibit is made up of materials used by MSF in its emergency medical work around the world, including emergency refugee housing, a food distribution tent, water pump, health clinic, vaccination tent, therapeutic feeding center, and a cholera treatment center. It addresses questions such as:

• Will I be safe?
• What will I eat?
• How do I find water?
• Can I get medical care?
• Where will I live?

Today, 42 million people around the world have fled armed conflicts and are searching for safety (see Refugee/IDP Snapshots). They are children, women, and men living in temporary shelters, camps, or shanty towns, struggling to survive in new and often hostile environments. Those who have sought refuge in another country are refugees, a status which entitles them to certain rights under international law.

Those who are seeking refuge within their own countries are officially called internally displaced persons (IDPs). They have fewer rights than refugees, yet make up almost two-thirds of the people around the world today who are seeking safety from armed conflict and violence.

It was a pleasure cooking for the hard-working staff and volunteers each day, who braved the Vancouver rainfall and October chill to give tours to hundreds and hundreds of visitors over the week.

Here are a few pictures of both the event and the staff involved in putting this together:

Thank you to all at MSF/Doctor’s without Borders for your hard work in bringing this display to Vancouver!

Photos courtesy of Kevin Hooi