Added funding from the COVID-19 Community Response Fund is a big help for the Regional Food Distribution Association.
The fund is a collaboration between the United Way and the Thunder Bay Community Foundation to help charities during the pandemic crisis.
RFDA Executive Director Volker Kromm tells us the $40,000 donation for his organization is critical and coming at an important time as it tries to keep regional food banks stocked.
“We’re spending in the neighourhood of roughly $35,000 a week just trying to get enough food together to make up the hampers to serve everyone in the city,” says Kromm. Add to that the need for protective equipment for his staff that increases the costs.
The head of a Thunder Bay soup kitchen is grateful to the Response Fund for a donation of $19,600.
Michael Quibell explains the onset of the pandemic forced St. Andrew’s Dew Drop Inn to close their dining area to the needy and to start providing take-home lunches, “an added expense we were not prepared for,” so he says the funding helps.
Roots to Harvest is using its $16,800 donation from the Fund to continue its Good Food Box program.
Executive Director Erin Beagle tells us her group is providing those boxes to seniors on social assistance in Thunder Bay for the next four weeks in conjunction with the Thunder Bay District Social Services Administration Board.
“Sixteen thousand (dollars) of that…is used exclusively for food and the other 800 (dollars) is for truck rentals,” notes Beagle.
The Northwestern Ontario Women’s Centre is also operating the Good Food Box program with its $13,660 donation.
Executive Director Gwen O’Reilly says the regular operation “had to be cancelled due to the pandemic, so our customers have gone without their usual monthly delivery of fresh fruits and vegetables.”
Our regional sites include a number of First Nation communities. We are partnering with the Indigenous Food Circle to run an emergency Regional Good Food Box (including fresh and non-perishable items) and arrange food delivery to First Nations.”
Our Kids Count is facing its own challenges during the pandemic and so it is welcoming the $2,000 donation from the Response Fund.
Executive Director Kathryn Hughes says the money is being used to provide dinners to families that count on the organization’s support, especially during this crisis. She indicated about 175 people rely on those meals.
