Embark: When did you join as a volunteer at Embark and what have you done here?

Emil: I joined Embark sometime in January, around the start of 2020. So far I’ve been a part of the Food Rescue program and attended numerous events and community cohorts, all of which have been fun and engaging. At Food Rescue, we re-distribute produce from Nester’s Market on Burnaby Mountain that they deem unsellable, check it for safety, and then give it away to anyone interested. The ultimate goal of the program is sustainability and limiting food waste, something, that in my opinion, the program has been doing well so far.

Why were you interested in volunteering at Embark?

I wasn’t that invested in limiting food waste before joining Embark, I was simply looking for a valuable volunteer experience that would help me in my future career. However, I have grown more invested into what the program stands for and I feel like it is fighting for a noble cause that would benefit, literally, everyone.

What are the benefits of volunteering at Embark?

One of the main benefits of volunteering with Embark is the experience you get from working in a team and on projects, as well as being able to add it to your resume since your participation is recorded on your co-curricular record. But, you also get to meet and work with so many amazing and wonderful people! At Embark I have already made new friends and connections and the whole operation, in a way, feels like a tight-knitted family striving toward a common goal.

What’s your favourite thing about Embark?

My favourite thing about Embark is how effective the organization is at achieving its goals. So far, the Food Rescue operation has saved thousands of kilograms of food which would have otherwise gone to waste, which helps reduce the effects of climate change even if only ever so slightly. Embark has high ambitions and a long way to go, but I believe that it has been going in the right direction so far.

What are your main takeaways from volunteering and your project?

My main takeaways would be to not give up and continue pushing, as the global climate emergency is one that will have serious consequences on all our lives. Food waste is a big contributor to that issue (the global climate emergency) and our project tries to eliminate that on the SFU campus to the best of our abilities. With more cooperation from other communities and more people starting to take the issue seriously, I believe the program will experience even more success. And who knows, perhaps in the future we’ll be able to see the impact this program had once we hopefully manage to avert this crisis.