![\"14446301_1255355361183424_1425942667_o\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/lfs350legionmtpleasant\/files\/2016\/09\/14446301_1255355361183424_1425942667_o-1024x576.jpg\")
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Group Introductions (left to right)<\/strong><\/p>\n J<\/span>oanne Wong<\/span><\/p>\n Rachel Leung<\/span><\/p>\n Jenny Sinclair<\/span><\/p>\n Carmina Paterno<\/span><\/p>\n Winnie Kwan<\/span><\/p>\n Olivia Shaw<\/span><\/p>\n Our group expectations for the project<\/b><\/p>\n We are looking forward to learning more about the Royal Canadian Legion\u00a0and how it supports the local community. Through our project, we hope to<\/span> identify potential ways in which the Mt.\u00a0Pleasant Legion\u00a0can be better integrated into the\u00a0local community, potentially by encouraging new community partnerships and relationships. Before proceeding, we will need to <\/span>learn the extent of the Mt. Pleasant Legion’s involvement in the local food community, and if they have an interest in expanding their\u00a0involvement.<\/span> Our reasons for choosing this project came both from personal interests and wanting to explore the unknown. Many of us have never been to or heard of the Legions, which made us curious to learn more about this community and project. <\/span>Overall, our goal is to develop a better understanding of the Vancouver food system <\/span>through assessing the smaller scale Legion food system.<\/span><\/p>\n Our project objectives and community organization<\/b><\/p>\n Legions are Canadian organizations that provide essential services to veterans, their families, and local communities, while commemorating the sacrifices men and women made for our country. Legions hold space for an aging community of members that are rich with stories of Vancouver and beyond. They maintain their site as a communal place where veterans, other members of the community, and visitors can gather, play social games, listen to live music, participate in meat draws, and connect with each other. <\/span>The Legion supports youth, health, and education programs in the community as well as provides food vouchers to veterans and bursaries to students. This long-standing organization is an asset to the community for its diversity of services, its long legacy of support and for many other facets we have yet to discover. As such, it presents itself as a great starting point around which an asset based approach of community development can be formulated, focusing on the positive impacts of the Legion on the community and how these can be developed further. <\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0 As LFS students hoping to increase food assets in the Mount Pleasant community, we aim to assess the state of the Legion\u2019s food system and understand what the needs of its stakeholders are. Through site visits and interviews, questions concerning kitchen capacity, kitchen use, and the existence of on-site food services will be addressed. This research falls in line with the city of Vancouver\u2019s goal to improve people\u2019s access to healthy, adequate, and culturally appropriate food. Unfortunately, certain demographics experience disproportionately higher food insecurity compared to others, and therefore cannot access the food they require. This is why we will critically analyze existing infrastructure and community stakeholder needs with a food justice perspective, with the goal of making the food assets currently found at the Legion more accessible to the community. If the Legion does have an underused kitchen, we aim to identify potential uses for the facilities and to optimize and expand community services in line with the wishes of the branch. \u00a0If the Mt. Pleasant Legion does not have a kitchen for us focus on, we will shift our attention to the communal space and food assets available, and how we can promote the Legion’s current services to potentially build more community.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Building community through shared kitchen spaces<\/p><\/div>\n Photo credit:<\/span> ironypoisoning<\/span><\/a> via<\/span> Visual hunt<\/span><\/a> \/<\/span> CC BY-SA<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Our first impressions of the process to date <\/b><\/p>\n From the course descriptions of the Legion projects, our understanding is that the project is relatively open-ended. The direction each Legion would like to proceed towards will differ by branch, depending on what assets they have available and what they feel comfortable with. Like Sirolli said in his TED talk, our group agreed that we should \u201cshut up and listen\u201d to the Mt. Pleasant Legion\u2019s wishes, goals, and desires before planning how our group can best assist them in meeting their needs. We have speculations and possible initiative ideas, but they could all be worthless if our branch is uninterested in pursuing them.<\/span><\/p>\n\n
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![\"royal-canadian-legion-sign-mount-pleasant-vancouver-bc-canada-joe-fox\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/lfs350legionmtpleasant\/files\/2016\/09\/royal-canadian-legion-sign-mount-pleasant-vancouver-bc-canada-joe-fox.jpg\")
Photo credit:\u00a0FineArtAmerica<\/a><\/p>\n![\"tspa_0004302f\"](\"http:\/\/render.fineartamerica.com\/images\/rendered\/medium\/greeting-card\/images-medium-5\/royal-canadian-legion-sign-mount-pleasant-vancouver-bc-canada-joe-fox.jpg\")
Photo credit:\u00a0 Toronto Public Library<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n