Our mission is to support local community, enabling upward mobility through employment, training and investing in the future. ... Mark Brand Inc (MBI) operates primarily in the downtown eastside of Vancouver. This community is known to have the poorest postal code in Canada and the largest open air drug market in North America. Despite the community's social and economic concerns, we have successfully set up and continue to run multiple businesses because of our commitment to seeing this community thrive. MBI supports neighbours and community with food security through the Meal Program and Token Program based out of Save On Meats located at 43 West Hastings in the heart of the downtown eastside. Meals go to women and children fleeing violence, street-entrenched youth, and folks on assisted living. Meals are shipped to our partnered community organizations by Shift Delivery Cooperative. When providing these meals, we are constantly striving to come up with interesting, new ways to make delicious, healthy food on a limited budget. Often this means partnering with other community organizations to source low-cost, local produce. Our meals cost $3.50 to prep, cook and deliver to residents. The cost of meals are subsidized by donations to A Better Life Foundation. 850 Vancouverites are fed high quality meals 365 days per year. 2 million meals have been served since 2012! Meal tokens are purchased from Save On Meats. They are then distributed directly by the donor or via one of our community partners to share amongst their organization. Token donors rest assured that what they give will provide much needed sustenance to community members and at the same time support Save On Meats’ social enterprise. Tokens also solve the dilemma that many people face when hesitant to give money rather than food to people they see on the street. The program acts as a bridge between people who want to give and people who need the support. read more