Welcome to Meal Exchange's first official annual report!
Annual+Report (721.38 KB)

Meal+Exchange+2005+Financial+Statement (116.16 KB)

"...while we have made great strides over the past year, we are confident that the best is yet to come."

LETTER FROM THE CHAIR

The launch of this report is indicative of an important evolution that is taking place at Meal Exchange. As many of you know, our founder Rahul recently moved on to other challenges after years of truly inspirational and dedicated work at Meal Exchange. Although we were sad to see Rahul leave, we have been able to use his departure as an opportunity to transition the organization toward a promising new era.

This has meant building on the vision of Meal Exchange as an organization that creates a virtuous cycle. Within this cycle young people are first attracted to volunteerism through our youth-centered programming, then engaged in issues related to hunger and poverty through our education and communication programmes, and finally encouraged to develop their own ideas for social change which can be disseminated through our network of volunteers in order to inspire others to get involved.

Over the past year we have made great strides across all aspects of this virtuous cycle.

First, we engaged more than 10,000 young people in 39 campus communities across the country to raise over $257,363 in food donations. At the same time we improved connection and education through programmes such as our e-newsletter and our annual conference. Finally, with the help of the Michael Young Family Foundation, we launched an exciting new programme called the Social Incubator that provides seed money and technical support for youth-driven initiatives related to hunger and poverty. This year we assisted three projects that may eventually be disseminated throughout our chapter network.

We have also entered into a new era from a staffing and governance perspective. We promoted a long-time volunteer and employee, Dave Kranenburg, to Executive Director and hired Amanda Ono as our Director of Communications. At the same time we have developed a dedicated Board of Directors that includes both students and professionals from a variety of backgrounds.

All told, these changes mark an exciting time for Meal Exchange. And while we have made great strides over the past year, we are confident that the best is yet to come.

In closing, I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank all those who have supported Meal Exchange over the years. Our volunteers and financial supporters make Meal Exchange successful and ensure that we continue to grow and contribute to the well being of communities across the country.

Best Regards,



Sean Van Doorselaer
Chair, Meal Exchange Board of Directors