Custom grocery hampers for families in need

Non-profits join forces to create custom made food hampers Several Calgary non-profits have teamed up to create custom-made food hampers for those in need due to the pandemic

Calgary — The Centre for Newcomers (CFN) has partnered with the Calgary East Zone Newcomers Collaborative (CENC) in order to feed the most vulnerable community members in East Calgary.

In partnership and as a satellite location of the Calgary Food Bank, CFN received funding from the Government of Alberta, United Way and Enmax for these hampers along with non- perishable items sourced through food bank shipments.

Alberta Minister of Community and Social Services Rajan Sawhney was one of the two dozen volunteers packing and delivering hampers to the community Wednesday. The hampers are available to anyone in the community who needs them due to quarantine, job-loss or any of the extenuating circumstances brought on by the pandemic.

Sawhney told CTV News each of the hampers are customized to meet the requirements of the families, “ They are customized depending on the number of individuals in the family depending on their ethnicity and what their unique requirements are," she said.

Hampers include items such as fresh and non-perishable groceries as well as sanitary and cleaning products.

Sawhney said the need for aid is higher in areas such as Calgary’s north east. “We know that income and food security is an issue for a number of different families and that’s why the government of Alberta implemented the COVID care outreach program, to make sure that those Albertans that needed additional help had someplace to turn.”

Hans Luu, a board chair at the CFN brought his family to help deliver some of the goods. Luu says the hampers are put together each day based upon the calls received and that they will continue to be available to families into the coming weeks.

Luu says this is critical work for his team, “We work with in many cases newcomers to Canada and so in a time like this when it’s such a difficult pandemic year, you may not have access to services or to supermarkets so this needs to get out as a matter of priority to help people that need it the most.  ”

There can be unseen barriers to social services that many new Canadians may face, “it’s just that much harder when you don’t know the language and you don’t know what the community services are or how to access them.” Luu says.

“This is for anyone who needs help," Sawhney said, "whether you’re a newcomer or you’ve been here for a long time or you’re born and raised here. It doesn’t matter. If somebody’s in need and they need some additional groceries to get through their isolation or just do this very difficult time, that help is available. ”

To apply for aid, Albertans are encouraged to call toll free: 1-833-217-6614 (seven days a week, 8 a.m.- 9 p.m.)