Before COVID-19, the Unison Kerby Centre ran a program where volunteers picked up and delivered groceries to older adults who had limited incomes and were housebound.
This was the closest thing to a food security program we had ever attempted. When the pandemic happened, we started recruiting volunteers to help us deliver frozen meals to older adults who were shut in — now due to COVID-19.
We figured we couldn’t run our café, but this was a way we could keep our kitchen staff working and fortunately due to the support of our donors we were able to keep delivering these meals.
I remember a phone call with Josephine Pon and several other seniors serving sector leaders around this time. Josephine was the provincial Minister of Seniors and Housing and she told us that her staff were reporting the issue of food insecurity and seniors across the province.
All of us were witnessing massive food insecurity problems all around the province. I think we all naively believed that this was related to COVID-19 and it would go away when the pandemic was over.
At Unison, which was Kerby Centre at the time we doubled down on developing strategies and programs to address food insecurity. We worked with donors and corporations, — we solicited foundations and we recruited more and more volunteers. At the high point of the pandemic, we had 120 volunteers helping us staff a growing food rescue program. We partnered with national food rescue groups like Second Harvest and local groups like Leftovers. We started free bread markets and the free food markets. We became a member of Food Banks Alberta and started a food pantry and a food bank.
To this day, we still have over 80 volunteers in Calgary alone who help us run these programs.
A little over three years ago the City of Medicine Hat was looking for an operator to run the Veiner Centre in Medicine Hat. The city also ran Meals on Wheels which is also a food security program directed at supporting older adults.
We put in a proposal not only to run the Veiner Centre but also Meals on Wheels. Meals on Wheels America has been involved in a lot of research that identifies not only the food security benefits of a program like MOW- but the program is also a strategy to both help seniors' health and their ability to age in place. I am proud to say that we have just signed our second 3-year contract to provide both of these programs.
In a few years, we have gone from providing almost no food security-type programs to this continuum of services being one of the key pillars of the services our team provides. Our team continue to improve these services. If you go onto our YouTube channel you will find a few videos on what it is like to volunteer with our Meals on Wheels program. You can also see a recent video where Ashley describes the benefits of our new Kerby Food Market for Seniors.
Of course, you know that all these programs are possible because people like you donate to us every day.
We have just launched our usual holiday campaign — this year proceeds from this campaign will support all the food security initiatives we provide in Medicine Hat and Calgary. Please help us support older adults who are facing food insecurity this holiday season.