The Helpers: in Saskatoon, a flood of support for youth
On Wednesday morning, Don Meikle got a surprise that brought him to tears.
A stranger had stopped by the EGADZ drop-in centre with an entire trailer full of groceries: enough, Meikle said, to feed more than 100 families.
“It was just unbelievable,” he said. “What a community we’ve got here.”
EGADZ, which runs a youth drop-in centre, community homes that house more than 200 people and various other programs, had been forced to change its operations in light of COVID -19. Meikle said the centre is now preparing and dropping off at least 60 care packages a day to people in its young offenders program and their families.
“We have to keep 15 homes going. Our staff has really stepped up, because our staff have realized that if we close our homes down, that’s 200 people with no place to live,” he said. “We’re just going to keep helping until we can’t.”
The non-profit organization has also seen unprecedented community support. Mano’s, an Italian restaurant on Eighth Street that recently closed its doors, donated “hundreds of pounds” of potatoes and other food, Meikle said.
The Sobey’s in Stonebridge pitched in with $1,000 worth of fresh meat, bread and cheese. The Night Oven bakery has pitched in bread A Canadian Tire donated toilet paper and hand sanitizer.
On Wednesday, someone who asked to be kept anonymous showed up with thousands of dollars worth of food. “The only thing he wanted was to give a shout-out to YXE Community Response COVID-19,” Meikle said, referencing a Facebook group started to help facilitate community volunteering in light of the pandemic. “That’s it. That’s all he wanted.”
CARING FOR KIDS
The online group, started by a University of Saskatchewan law student with help from others, is also widening its net to support the city’s children as parents are cut off from their main sources of income.
Third-year law students Courtenay
Catlin and Allyse Cruise have been leading a sister group focused on providing toys, games and other activities for children in need.
Cruise said she and Catlin were inspired by social media messages from parents struggling to balance working from home with childcare. It struck them that many families didn’t have that luxury.
“And we thought: what about all the vulnerable members of our society who are going to be further marginalized about this? What about those who don’t have the resources to begin with?” Cruise said.
They began making and delivering care packages especially for children — full of canvas, paint, puzzles, books and toys.
Catlin said they were helped by a “massive” donation from Village Green Thrift Store and help from a U of S professor. One person also donated $500. All donations were sanitized and carefully cleaned before being packaged.
The pair said they’ve already dropped off a dozen packages, with plans to drop off 40 more in the next few days. All donations are anonymous.
HELPING THE HELPERS
Meikle said EGADZ is happy to arrange for donations over the phone, especially food. He noted many people have recently taken up baking bread and would welcome gifts of flour.
Catlin and Cruise said anyone interested in donating cash or gifts, or in volunteering, can reach out via email at yxecovid19help@ gmail.com.