Before COVID-19, the street outside Collingwood Neighbourhood House in East Vancouver was bustling, with lots of foot traffic going past the building all day, every day.
Inside, the space was an active hive, with chatter in a multitude of different languages, including Cantonese, Mandarin, Spanish, Tagalog, Hindi, Punjabi, Vietnamese and Japanese.
Visitors would comment on the vibrancy, diversity and buzz of the Neighbourhood House. These days, it’s just a sparkling clean, quiet space.
“When the crisis hit and all of our staff went home, we realized we had to pivot from hands-on to many new ways of working. Food and loneliness quickly emerged as the critical issues impacting local people,” says Jennifer Gray-Grant, Executive Director at Collingwood Neighbourhood House.
Through the pandemic, Collingwood Neighbourhood House has found ways to continue to support the critical needs of its community. At every step along the way, United Way British Columbia has partnered with this non-profit to help serve the needs of its growing number of vulnerable citizens.
Working together for strong responses
Collingwood Neighbourhood House is one of 24 agency hubs supporting Safe Seniors, Strong Communities, a partnership between United Way’s Better at Home program, bc211 and the Province of British Columbia. Through the service, seniors contact bc211 to be connected with volunteers who can help with grocery shopping, meal preparation and prescription pick-ups or by giving friendly phone call.
The Neighbourhood House is also one of almost 20 Local Love Food Hubs that United Way supports to distribute food in communities in the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley in response to the soaring food needs resulting from COVID-19. Since April 24, Local Love Food Hubs have distributed 46,000 grocery hampers and meals to people who are hungry. To serve the current need, United Way has launched an urgent appeal to raise $1 million to expand the program to 50 Local Love Food Hubs by the end of May.
“United Way is really coming through. First, they stepped up with the Better at Home seniors’ program enhancements. Now United Way is stepping up with other kinds of food supports as well, to help single adults, couples, youth and families,” says Jennifer. “Through this new funding we are able to pick up the pace and number of hours for our chef. We’re able to buy more groceries and cook more meals, and also able to freeze those meals. It’s all done very efficiently at the Neighbourhood House, and we distribute meals and groceries to seniors and families as well.”
Responding to the rising community need
“Collingwood Neighbourhood House has really been able to respond to the rising need in its community during this time of crisis,” says Kim Winchell, Senior Director, Strategy and Operations at United Way British Columbia. “Whether that be through supporting isolated seniors, providing grocery bags to individuals or distributing nutritious frozen meals to families, their staff and volunteers are showing their local love every day, supporting their neighbours in a way that gives them dignity and respect.”
In Vancouver, the Renfrew-Collingwood area is home to the highest populations of immigrants and people without knowledge of English, and the second highest population of visible minority groups in Vancouver with 78 per cent of residents being visible minorities. The neighbourhood also has the second lowest median personal income and 45 per cent of homes have children – one of the highest numbers of children in Vancouver neighbourhoods.
“There’s a woman who is 73 who is going through cancer treatment and taking care of her 2 grandchildren. She could really use healthy meals and groceries. We were able to provide nutritious meals for her and her grandchildren, meals like chicken and rice and fresh veggies, and also help with ongoing basic groceries, thanks to this support,” says Jennifer.
Generosity of partners like BCAA is indispensable
Collingwood Neighbourhood House and United Way rely on partners to help make these services a reality for the many people they help. BCAA has enlisted staff to help transport large shipments of personal protective equipment from United Way to the various food hubs across the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley so staff and volunteers at the food hubs can safely distribute food.
BCAA has long been a top contributor and major supporter of United Way. They give through corporate and in-kind donations, workplace giving and sponsorship to United Way annually. Their extraordinary generosity during this time has been indispensable in enabling United to Way to support our communities.
“When we got the call from United Way, we jumped at the chance to help. Keeping people fed and safe during this extremely difficult time is so important and our employees love being part of such a meaningful initiative,” says Shawn Pettipas, Director, Community Engagement, BCAA.
Working together, we can make a difference. Help us feed our friends and neighbours.
Topics : Building Community, Food Security, Local love, Seniors, Volunteers