Penni Eisenhauer, community navigator for the Waterloo Village Neighbourhood Association, left, and Carleton Community Centre executive director Dustin Leclerc pack food baskets for the Greater Saint John Emergency Food Program. (Photo: Contributed / Living SJ)
Community groups across Saint John have come together to provide food to those in need during the pandemic.
The Greater Saint John Emergency Food Program was launched in the wake of the state of emergency declaration in March.
Its goal was to address the gap caused by the sudden loss of school food programs, according to Penni Eisenhauer, a community navigator with the Waterloo Village Neighbourhood Association.
“It naturally evolved into not just serving the children but their families and then it also evolved to unique individuals, being singles, seniors, people with disabilities,” said Eisenhauer.
Eight organizations worked together to deliver weekly grocery packages to families and individuals in the greater Saint John area.
More than 1,800 grocery packages have been delivered so far, providing help to about 3,000 people of all ages.
Betty Rogers Sheehan and her family benefitted from the program. (Photo: Contributed / Living SJ)
Betty Rogers Sheehan and her family are among those who have benefitted from the program. When schools were shuttered in mid-March, her two teens were forced to stay home all day.
“I noticed that my grocery bills had gone up substantially when they were home,” said Rogers Sheehan.
Shortages of time, energy and money presented a huge barrier for Rogers Sheehan and her husband, who are both essential workers.
She said the program has helped her and her family immensely and bridged the gap in their food situation.
Dustin Leclerc is the executive director of the Carleton Community Centre, which is also involved in the program.
Leclerc said it was comforting to see so many groups come together to help those in need in the community.
“Knowing that there’s so many people who are concerned and thinking about clients in the community and the most vulnerable people in the community gives you a sense of comfort that when you’re faced with a global pandemic, there’s people who are ready to help,” he said.
Leclerc said the centre provided staff to help pack and deliver the food, and to assist with administrative work.
Other organizations which have provided assistance include Inner City Youth Ministry, PULSE, the Crescent Valley Resource Centre, the Boys & Girls Club of Saint John, Horizon Health, and Pennies and Sparrows.
Port Saint John also offered the use of its Diamond Jubilee Cruise Terminal so organizers could respect physical distancing and still have lots of room to pack and store food.
Jim Quinn, president and CEO of the port, said it has been a delight to see the program working so efficiently and effectively.
“This is so typical of Saint John. We have a great city,” said Quinn in a news release. “The people in this city are so willing to give. Not only in a monetary way but as volunteers too. We have to be, on a per capita basis, among the most giving people in Canada.”
Officials said more than $100,000 was donated by organizations and individuals in a matter of weeks.
As restrictions around the pandemic are loosening, the emergency program is starting to wind down. However, Leclerc said they are not ending their support for those in need.
“This program and the way that we’ve been operating over the last couple of months is not sustainable long term, so it’s really a means to a crisis and then trying to figure out what those long-term sustainable supports area,” he said.
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