Easter Armas
Easter Armas is the founder of A Loving Spoonful, a meal program in Vancouver, British Columbia that provides free meals to people living with HIV/AIDS.
Easter, who lives in Vancouver, served as the community’s first female monarch, and holds the title of Emperor 13 of Vancouver.
In 1989, Easter began Easter’s Sundays, which sprung from nothing more than Easter Armas’s determination that no one living with AIDS should live with hunger.
She saw an acquaintance of hers, a brilliant lawyer who had lost his job because he was HIV-positive, eating from a dumpster. She was devastated.
November 19, 1989 marked the first of many Easter’s Sundays, monthly dinners held at McLaren House for people living with HIV/AIDS. Each meal was lovingly prepared by volunteers, and there was often entertainment.
Easter’s Sundays aimed to diminish the isolation felt by people with AIDS by providing food, community, and comfort. From the determination of one woman and her tireless friends, the Vancouver Meals Society was born. It was the first meal program in Canada to provide free meals for people living with HIV/AIDS. They had five clients.
In 1994, the Vancouver Meals Society was re-named A Loving Spoonful. Their clients now include more than 250 adults and children in Greater Vancouver.
A Loving Spoonful fulfills Easter’s commitment that no one living with AIDS should live with hunger. Achieving that mission requires the loving, coordinated effort of a community of volunteers, staff, donors and supporters.
It is through this dedicated support that A Loving Spoonful has been able to provide their services free of charge for almost twenty years.