A non-profit group that rescues edible food from the garbage and gets it to hungry people across the Lower Mainland has won the annual $1-million Vancity award.

The announcement was made by the credit union on Thursday, following a vote by its members.

Vancouver's Quest Outreach Society, which helps feed 50,000 people a month, says it will use the money to triple its capacity.

The group currently recovers 6.6 million pounds of food a year that would otherwise end up in landfills, which the group says is less than one per cent of the food that's being wasted in Greater Vancouver.

It says the money will pay for a new warehouse that will allow it to handle 21 million pounds of food annually, feeding 150,000 needy people each month.

Quest, which has been operating for 20 years, maintains that there isn't a hunger problem, but there is a serious food distribution problem.

This is the sixth year that Vancity has made the $1-million award to a non-profit organization.