Lethbridge organizations team up to help most vulnerable during COVID-19 pandemic

The founder of Streets Alive Mission said their clothing supplies are running low but they are hoping since people will have more time at home, they'll be able to go through their closets and clear out some stuff to donate.

Lethbridge, Alta. — As various levels of government continue the battle against Covid-19, important work continues for staff members of food banks and shelters in Lethbridge.

Interfaith Food Bank, Lethbridge Food Bank and MyCityCare have struck up a partnership to coordinate emergency food services for the community's most vulnerable citizens.

The organizations believe it's the best way to make the most of resources and to provide the most efficient and effective support. But that doesn't mean they aren't still looking for help from members of the community.

"We're fortunate to have a lot of long-term donors, and our community supports are usually quite good," IFB executive director Danielle McIntyre said. "But we have had a lot of our community fundraising events cancelled due to the recent developments.

McIntyre is encouraging anyone who wants to help out to give monetarily online if they're not able to come down to the food bank physically.

Emergency food assistance is what it's all about for the food banks. Still, due to some of the panic buying and scenes of empty shelves at grocery stores, McIntyre is worried getting some of the more critical items could become an issue.

"When things aren't in the grocery stores, it makes it much harder for people to find items to donate them to the food bank," she said, adding they're experiencing some shortages.

They're asking people not to panic at this moment, as we haven't even hit the big stream yet.

"And we are expecting once the effects of all these business closures come into effect, we're probably going to have a lot more people needing to access the food bank while they're waiting for other income supports to come through," McIntyre said.

Interfaith Food Bank has also cancelled all of its non-essential programs for the time being.

The situation for Streets Alive Mission has been more difficult. As a result of the precautionary measures put into place for the current situation, it's had an impact on their staff.

"We had three university interns who could no longer come here, we had an intern from Germany who has been ordered home, and we have three staff members that were requiring childcare," co-founder Julie Kissick said. "So we've been down seven bodies since last Wednesday."

The mission has cancelled some programs and the current constraints are making it more challenging to offer services at the same level, but Kissick said closing entirely is just not an option.

On top of that, it's also been a strain on the resources they have.

"Because people are staying home, we're not getting the clothing we need. We are flat out out of jeans and other supplies that we normally have on hand. We have not limited our core services, because we want to provide that consistency of care to this jeopardized group of people," Kissick said.

She's hoping that since people will have more time at home, they'll be able to go through their closets and clear out some stuff to donate.

The food banks and shelters have been in steady contact with the City of Lethbridge to try and keep things going as stable as possible, given the circumstances of the moment.