Dear Friends,
I am writing to update you on our efforts to continue to provide service to individuals and families while respecting the protocols in place to reduce the spread COVID-19 (coronavirus).
As you may know from our social media updates, we have suspended in-person community programming and are now supporting community members in a variety of ways:
1. Personal outreach: We are staying in touch with community members, where we have phone numbers and other contact information, and are also providing a phone support line (902-483-7376) for community members to use to get in touch with Family or Community Food Centre staff. As well, staff are calling isolated community members several times per week to keep connected. 2. Take-out meals, produce packs, emergency supplies: We are providing generously portioned take-out meals to community members twice a week. These meals are supplemented with produce packs, provided in partnership with the Mobile Food Market. The produce packs are being supplemented with other food items and home supplies where needed.
Details about these emergency food and supplies are being shared via our program calendar website and social media. The meals are being prepared in accordance with current food safety protocols and distributed outside in our parking lot for community member pick up. A range of measures are in place to support social distancing. 3. Other online programming: We are now offering weekly online programming for families including interactive workshops for parents and caregivers, Coffee Talk for parents, and Circle Time for families. We have also set up a private Facebook group for our prenatal parents and our home visitors are in regular touch with families via telephone. New programs will continue to be added as we move forward. 4. Taking care of our team: At this time, many of our team members are working from home and doing phone, email and online outreach Daily conversations are taking place to continually assess the situation and consider ways to help vulnerable community members. We are also checking in with staff regularly and are continually reassessing our protocols to ensure the safest possible work environment.
5. How you can help: The best way to help is by following the protocols being shared with everyone to contain the spread of COVID-19. At this time, we are requesting that people do not drop off donations. If you would like to support our distribution of emergency food and supplies, please consider donating to our Good Food Access Fund.
These are unusual times, and we thank you for your support and understanding. Let's watch out for one another! Sincerely,
Wendy Fraser Executive Director
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