05/22/2026
Big changes for St Josephs Food Bank as we welcome executive director Karen McDiarmid and operations manager Suzanne Rouleau to the team! With well wishes and sad hearts - we say goodbye and good luck to Sandra Cascaden- she has given many years to the Mission community and St.Joseph’s and we are grateful to her for her contribution.
St.Joseph’s food bank continues to grow as more of our community struggle with food insecurities- Thank you Karen and Suzanne for taking the charge to lead the way!
Thank you as well to Dhillon White and the Mission Record for a great article (as always)!
St. Joseph’s Food Bank in Mission is introducing a new leadership team.
Food bank manager Sandra Cascaden will be moving on to semi-retirement in June after six years of service with St. Joseph’s.
“My time here has been life-changing,” Cascaden said. “Giving back to the community is my passion. The volunteers, teamwork, and camaraderie here — I haven’t really seen that in my life. There’s no hierarchy here. We all work together and we get the job done. It’s like a family and I’m going to miss that the most.”
Karen McDiarmid joins the food bank as its new executive director while Suzanne Rouleau has been appointed as operations manager.
Cully Poston, the president of St. Joseph’s Food Bank, said Cascaden was working 15-16 hour days and the board decided to split the position into two. Poston said the operations manager will run the building while the executive director role requires more community involvement.
McDiarmid brings experience in project management, community initiatives, and food security within the region. She previously worked as manager of the Mission City Farmers Market, in addition to food security initiatives with the Mission Food Coalition and Sts’ailes.
“We’re going to take all the hard work Sandra did and the foundation that she built and grow that — and it’s amazing what she did as one person,” McDiarmid said.
Rouleau brings three years of operational, organizational leadership, and data‑management experience.
“I first came here as a client, then became a volunteer and got more involved. I was greeted here with empathy, and this was a place that I knew I belonged t and I wanted to spend time donating my skills and my time. So now here I am,” Rouleau said.
Rouleau said that Cascaden has built a strong foundation with unity among volunteers.
“We’re going to continue the same type of strength and unity with our vendors and clients as well,” Rouleau said.
Cascaden said the new team’s hearts are in it and she can see the compassion and desire to tackle food insecurity in Mission.
“I took it to as far as I can take it. Hopefully they can go to the next level with it,” Cascaden said.
St. Joseph’s Food Bank is also launching a newly-developed Standards of Excellence through funding from Food Banks Canada to strengthen services and elevate standards.
Board member Stephen Evans played a key role in driving the new Standards of Excellence and is committed to advancing the food bank’s vision of a hunger-free Mission.
“Food Banks Canada has asked food banks to work on becoming certified using a standards process that involves operations, donor finance, HR, food safety operations — the whole nine yards,” Evans said.
St. Joseph’s is Mission’s only registered food bank and it supports other non-profits in the city, as well as other food banks in the wider region. He said other communities don’t provide the same amount of food and support as St. Joseph’s.
Currently, Evans said the food bank faces two ongoing challenges: securing enough food and money to operate.
He said the community can play a part in supporting those two challenges. Donations tend to slow down from January to June, which can strain operations.
“In my opinion, we haven’t received as much donor money as we could and we really need as much contributions as we can get, because we have the standards and it comes with a certain amount of obligations on how we operate,” Evans said.
Evans said there’s also a financial strain related to fuel prices with food pick-ups and deliveries.
“It’s just a lot of money to keep those machines operating and it’s having an impact on everybody. Inflation and all that kind of stuff is really challenging for those on the margin, because they don’t have that extra 20 bucks. And it’s tough on us, because we don’t have that extra money put in the trucks,” Evans said.
Donations to the food bank can be made online at missionfoodbank.com/donate-funds/.
A Charity Golf Tournament at Mission Golf and Country Club in support of the food bank is also scheduled for May 23.
