The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the local Salvation Army organization to suspend some services and tweak many others, but Community and Family Services Director Edward Nkyi and Major Michael Simpson remind everyone that it is still there for those who need it most.
“If they need any services, they can call us to access those services,” Nkyi stated in a recent interview.
How they offer that help has changed somewhat since the first week in March when things started to shift in response to the pandemic. That's when their Jump Start program – which subsidizes sports for young people for whom the equipment or registration might otherwise be a challenge – was cancelled. Soon thereafter, it was learned that the summer-camp programming was also cancelled.
Those programs did not originate locally, Nkyi said, so it wasn't their call. But they did realize some adjustments were in order for their own services, such as the need for restricting the number of people at a time allowed in their Community and Family Services office at 66 Swayne St. in Cobourg - cutting down not only on clients allowed in at a time, but also on staffers and volunteers to be there for them.
It was a bolt from the blue for so many people who were not used to such restrictions, he said, but they adjusted within two to three weeks. So has the Salvation Army corps, finding new ways to deliver the wide variety of services they can still offer.
Merging the Food Bank and Food Cupboard services is an example.
The Food Bank was open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., allowing clients a visit every two weeks to stock up enough food to last four to seven days. The Food Cupboard was typically open for emergency needs, filling that food gap for clients on the first and third Thursday evenings of each month.
Now it's all one Food Bank program, officially open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. But exceptions are easily negotiated if needed, and the focus is more on what is needed than when it is available. For example, homeless individuals can pretty well arrange visits when needed as, since Nkyi pointed out, they cannot stock up and store any meaningful food supply. And for those with special dietary needs that their inventory can't serve, there are food vouchers and gift cards.
They also make food deliveries where needed, even as far away as Campbellford, for those who are unable to leave home (for health reasons such as immunodeficiency, for example).
Major Simpson said that their church at 59 Ballantine St. in Cobourg has been closed since March 15. But they have a staffer there attending to business and paying the bills, while all that unused space comes in handy for warehousing purposes. With grant money that has become available and many generous donations, they are able to stockpile a good supply of food.
“We are also grateful for the donations – everything from restaurants to drive-through donations to employees at the Cameco lunchroom dropping coins in a jar to local service clubs, the carpentry unions making donations, and individual citizens around us purchasing food,” the major listed.
“We have been very grateful to all these agencies, especially at this time, because we can't do the work alone – we can't respond to the need alone,” Nkyi agreed.
“Everybody is playing their part.”
Food Bank services are only one category of community assistance they offer, with five others as well.
Homelessness
When you have no home, Nkyi said, what do you do if you're told to shelter in place and wash your hands frequently.
“Most public amenities are closed – no public showers, no public restrooms,” he said.
In other times, sleeping bags and tents might have been made available, but that is not a solution just now.
The special arrangement that opened the Cobourg Collegiate Institute cafeteria to Transition House clientele to allow proper social distancing allayed a lot of the challenge, Nkyi said, but not all. Some people cannot be in shelters for various reasons, such as health reasons or the shelter being at capacity. In such cases, their emergency motel assistance might be offered for a limited time until more sustainable arrangements can be found.
Their work with such agencies as the Help Centre benefits those at risk of homelessness, Nkyi added.
Even though landlords have been asked not to evict people at this time, there's always that threat to some. In such cases, they work with landlords to make the situation a little more secure. Sometimes that means assistance with utility payments as well.
“We try our best to examine case-by-case to get the help they need,” he said.
Emergency Disaster Services
Disasters still happen, even in a pandemic, with people displaced by such emergencies as fire or flooding. In extreme cases like this, emergency motel assistance can lodge them for a limited time until they can find other arrangements. And if clothing is needed, there is access to whatever supply they have on hand. If transportation elsewhere will help, they can assist with train fare, bus tickets or even gas cards.
“Another piece of that - which is on-going, even when there's no COVID – is, we sit around the the table with the fire department, Emergency Medical Services, Search And Rescue,” Major Simpson added.
If a large-scale event happens, everyone knows what part he or she is expected to play, he said, and that includes the Salvation Army. And with COVID in the picture, planning has been made to account for that as well.
“It's another layer of what we are involved with,” he said.
“If an event happened and it was beyond our capacity, we do have resources in the Ontario Division we can call on.”
Health Bank
Many people on Ontario Works, Ontario Disability Support Program and Canada Pension Plan have some coverage for things like prescriptions and optical and dental needs, Nkyi said, but sometimes more is needed. For example, if you are covered for glasses every two years but your glasses break after one year, what do you do?
“We work with community dentists, health teams, community partners like doctors' offices, Rotary, pharmacists in this program to make it effective,” he said.
Travel to medical appointments presents a challenge, but they can sometimes help with things like gas cards and help with taxi fares.
Office appointments
Access to the office is restricted now, but interactions with clients still happen through telephone and e-mail. Requests are referred appropriately – and in some cases, callers and e-mailers can be referred to another agency that can meet their needs more appropriately.
For the Cobourg Community and Family Services office, call 905-373-9440 during Food Bank hours.
For the Port Hope Community and Family Services office at 100 Peter St., call 905-885-2323 Mondays, Wednesdays or Fridays.
And for every client who needs it, there's help with the new necessity of the COVID society – face masks. They have a supply of the commercial disposable ones on hand, Nkyi said, along with a supply of reusable ones that helpful volunteers have sewed up for them.
Celebrate Recovery
With no meetings possible, this program continues on a virtual basis to help those struggling with life's challenges such as addictions. Anyone interested will be referred to the group leaders, who will help them access Zoom meetings on Tuesday nights. Major Simpson added that, if they prefer, they can participate by phone.
Looking ahead, they can't help wonder what impact the pandemic – even if it has passed – will have on future programs that happen each fall. They expect to be able to distribute (on a carefully managed basis) the backpacks and Coats for Kids outerwear if school resumes, but things like the big stuff-the-backpack bees will not likely happen in an age of social distancing.
And Major Simpson would not be surprised to see a major impact on their Christmas campaign which brings in through kettle and mail-in donations – and accordingly, there may be an impact on what they are able to do and how many ways they can serve the community since they depend on this vital few weeks for so much of their budget.
As for the short term, Nyki sees two needs emerging – for more food donations and more volunteers.
With the vast majority of their volunteers in their 70s, Nkyi pointed out, they had to ask them to stay home to safeguard against a virus that hits the elderly especially hard. A lot of people were idled when a lot of local workplaces shut down, and some amazing people used that time to help them out working at the food bank, making deliveries, working the reception desk. Now that some workplaces are reopening, they have begun to lose some of those wonderful volunteers and hope new ones will step forward to prevent a shortage.
And though they usually have a good stockpile of food, the demand is high and donations are gratefully received. Donations of food can be delivered to either Community and Family Services office during office hours, and Major Simpson said the church would also accept such donations when they are open (Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.) if you knock on the door (which is locked). Or just call, Nkyi said, and they'll arrange a pick-up.
Meanwhile, if you have a need the Salvation Army can help with – even during the COVID-19 pandemic – Nkyi urges you to call. Whether it's a referral to another agency, an existing program they still have, or a creative way they can be of assistance, there's surely help to be found.