LOCAL HEROES
Frontline volunteers working tirelessly to make a difference during pandemic,
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, workers in the social services sector have been a main line of defence in supporting the most vulnerable members of their communities. Across the GTA, these unique and often-unsung heroes have stepped up to meet emergency needs and have kept vital programs running despite immense and continuous obstacles. Here are a few of their stories.
VARENYA KUHATHAAS OF FAMILY SERVICES YORK REGION’S FAMILIES AND SCHOOLS TOGETHER (FAST)
Since its inception, the mandate of the Families and Schools Together (FAST) program has remained the same: to confront issues of social isolation in York Region by hosting weekly gatherings for its newcomer and low-income families.
But when the global pandemic threatened to make isolation an immediate necessity, community organizers were left scrambling to uphold the FAST program’s 20-year-strong commitment.
“As the pandemic began to take hold in March, we — like everyone else — were overwhelmed with uncertainty,” says FAST program manager Varenya Kuhathaas. “The only thing we knew to do right away was to pick up the phone and call all our FAST families. I remember just how scared they all sounded.”
In particular, Kuhathaas and her team were worried about the large community of Yazidi families the program supported — many of whom had found comfort in FAST’s warm and welcoming events.
“These were families who had faced torture and slavery in Iraq and were completely new to the country,” she says. “They had all become very close and not being able to see each other was clearly adding to their trauma.
We knew we needed to do something.”
First on the docket, Kuhathaas says, was to review the program’s traditional offerings. For years the initiative had gathered families with young children together in the same space — families that had been identified within York Region’s public school system as being particularly vulnerable to loneliness and isolation. Then, at the enthusiastic guidance of its co-ordinators, these families would cook together, play together, laugh together and for eight consecutive weeks build lasting community bonds.
“We knew that before we resumed any of our traditional activities, our families needed urgent assistance,” she says. “We were able to firstly secure funding to deliver food and care packages to the families — ensuring that the families had the groceries, cleaning products, kids’ crafts and school supplies they needed to get them through.”
After that, it was important to move the program’s gatherings online and find innovative ways to pivot its typical itinerary. As an example, she says, communal cooking had become an essential component of the weekly gatherings. As such, it was decided that one family per week would guide Zoom partic
ipants through the preparation of a traditional dish from their home country.
“It was really amazing because we began to see families really get creative with these challenges,” says Kuhathaas. “It was clear that the Zoom sessions were something they looked forward to and prepared for all week.”
Further, each FAST session pre-COVID would incorporate a special craft or play activity that the children would engage with while their parents caught up with one another to share recent stories, challenges and triumphs. Additional funding from United Way Greater Toronto and Region of York al
lowed the FAST team to purchase materials for these special activities and to deliver those materials to the family homes in advance of the Zoom sessions each week.
“For example, one week we sent home a basil plant and provided pots and soil for each family,” says Kuhathaas. “With each kit we added some little toys and decorations that the kids could use to make their own special little garden during activity time.”
Kuhathaas explains that as the new era of FAST’s programming has taken shape, the initial challenges encountered have begun to reveal new realms of possibility — one of
which is the ease by which virtual environments could welcome more families to FAST gatherings going forward, especially as the tougher winter weather sets in.
“What this really brought to light is that bonds forged within a community can’t be broken even in the midst of crisis,” says Kuhathaas. “We know that building social capital, especially from a young age, is vital to both individual and community success — and seeing the same smiling faces return to the screen each week has reminded us of how important these resources are now in this new world, and how important they’ve always been.”