Group helps volunteers reach out to vulnerable

VANCOUVER • Kristina Kearley was no longer able

to work as a film technician when COVID-19 self-distancing rules ended thousands of local jobs in late March, and she has now become one of many Canadians who are spending newfound spare time helping others in need.

The Burnaby, B.C., resident co-ordinates an initiative called Canask, which has more than two dozen volunteer drivers who deliver donated hygiene supplies to vulnerable people, including residents and workers in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Since the organization began near the end of March, it has handed out 400 face masks, 1,000 four-ounce bottles of hand sanitizer, 300 four-ounce bottles of liquid hand soap and 500 packages of hand wipes.

It has been a whirlwind of fast-paced organization — propelled by the worsening health crisis — which Kearley

said has been made possible by so many volunteers and businesses stepping up.

“It’s an amazing collaboration and I’m really humbled how it’s all come together,” she said. “It’s heartwarming and I think it’s a story worth telling because I think it can give a lot of people comfort right now.”

Groups or people in need can go to the Canask website and make a request for these supplies, which are then dropped off in a no-contact format to maintain social distancing. The recipients range from those living in poverty to food-delivery workers to grocery store employees to low-income people who run errands for self-isolating friends.

Among the local groups aiding Canask are Mad Lab Distilling and Sons of Vancouver, who provide the hand sanitizer; Protect our Frontline Workers, a group with 1,200 volunteers who sew the face masks; a janitorial supply company that provided the soap (but wants to remain anonymous); and Allworld and Richards packaging companies, which provided the bottles.

Instead of offering hand sanitizer, which people with severe alcohol dependencies will sometimes drink, to Downtown Eastside organizations, Canask has instead put the disinfectant on wipes and scented them with tea tree oil and rose water. “Giving people the means to wash their hands is a huge priority,” Kearley said.

I’M REALLY HUMBLED HOW IT’S ALL COME TOGETHER.

People can volunteer on the Canask website, and also donate to its Gofundme page. The items distributed by Canask bear the slogan “We can get through this together.”

“I want everyone who receives these things to absolutely know that we are all in this together, and many people have worked with love to help them,” she said.

Kearley was motivated to get involved for several reasons, including the fact that her mother is a B.C. nurse who looks after other seniors and her partner’s uncle died of COVID-19 in New York.

She also remembers moving to Vancouver as a 19-year-old student, and working three jobs and often not having enough money for essentials. “It’s a struggle for so many people in the Lower Mainland,” she said.