It is early March 2020. The St. Albert Food Bank and Community Village is bustling as usual. Staff, volunteers and clients intermingle. Folks can be seen perusing books from the book shelves. Children are playing with toys. A homeless individual is enjoying breakfast while his clothes are being washed. Families are picking up scheduled food hampers and other clients are meeting with the community liaison social workers. It was very common to see clients, volunteers and clients laughing, sometimes crying and always hugging! And then COVID-19 happened.
We were identified as being an essential service days into the announcement of the pandemic, which is a first for food banks. While we remained open, many of the agencies and services we work closely with shut down temporarily and then moved to offering services remotely.
During the initial days of the pandemic, everyone was confused and concerned about their future with businesses closing and jobs being lost. Our families were so concerned that they wouldn’t be able to get any food due to the pandemic buying that happened at the beginning.
The residents of St. Albert responded in support of their neighbours! Through the incredible generosity of the community, our shelves were filled and our families were able to feed their families.
For awhile, things quieted. Then the eviction protections were lifted and some of our families were looking at having to find a new home. Some folks were asked to leave if they were living with friends who had older family members residing with them as they wanted to protect their elders from possible exposure. Bills that had been deferred came due and folks found themselves facing service disconnections.
Here we are now – March 2021! Many of our volunteers have started to get their vaccinations and we can feel the mood lifting throughout the building. We are starting to see that little light at the end of the tunnel. We are not lifting any of our strict protocols but we are feeling a little lighter these days.
It may take a significant length of time for some of our families to fight their way back to the surface when it comes to finding financial stability again. Many have had to max out their credit cards to pay the day to day bills so even when they do find employment it will take a long time to pay off their debt
We are all looking forward to the day that we can unlock the doors and have folks sit in our waiting room looking through the books again, but the thing we are most looking forward to is not having to take a step back and stay six feet away when someone is in crisis – we have all missed those hugs. We know that these things will still take time to do safely but they are something to be able to look forward to.
The community of St. Albert has offered exceptional support to our families during the health crisis. We have always felt supported but not to the degree we have been experiencing. Simply saying thank you just doesn’t seem to be enough but we’ll say it anyway. Thank you, St. Albert, from the staff and volunteers – you have no idea the impact you have had on our organization and the people we serve.
