ISOLATION
WHILE some queue anxiously outside supermarkets hoping to stockpile enough food to last them until the dawn of time, for others the coronavirus has had little impact on the content of their cupboards.
Since its inception in 2018 the FoodKonnekt service in Wexford town has provided emergency support to approximately 1,650 people, including 800 children. However, like every business, the team behind FoodKonnekt have found their circumstances altered by the outbreak of the virus.
‘Traditionally FoodKonnect has always been a collection service but now for obvious reasons we’re migrating it to delivery,’ explains Paul Delaney of the Cornmarket Project who are behind the service.
‘We’ve built a good relationship with the people who use our service and we have their details so can deliver to their homes. We’ve always concentrated on addressing food poverty in the area, and we’re trying our best to reach as many people as we can.’
And with people continuing to lose their jobs on an almost daily basis, Paul says FoodKonnekt is now needed more than ever.
‘There were people already hanging on by their fingertips, people on precarious contracts who were making do without food, without paying their ESB, they’re the type of people who are using our services, not just the homeless.
‘We’re getting lots of phone calls from worried people and we’re expecting demand to increase.’
In order to cope with that demand Paul and his team are negotiating with the Department of Social Protection for additional funding.
One thing not in short supply is support from the general public. Paul says they have been ‘inundated’ with calls from people offering their services, volunteers ready to lend a hand in whatever way they can.
However, with social distancing rules in effect Paul says they are currently well-staffed and benefitting from the additional space being made available to them by Wexford Local Development (WLD).
‘Since the outbreak we’ve had phone calls every day from people looking to help, we’re inundated with offers, we’re trying to incorporate as many people as possible while still adhering to the directives in terms of social distancing.
‘We’re lucky in sense, because we’ve been able to use the training rooms in the WLD, they’re not being used at the moment, and that’s helped us maintain social distancing,’ he explains.
This isn’t the only way that WLD have helped the FoodKonnekt
service transition from collection based to delivery.
Brian Kehoe is the CEO of WLD and he’s been working to ensure all resources are utilised during these unique times.
‘We have a programme called TÚS which usually involves people doing jobs in their local communities, maintenance jobs for older people, and we’re using the vehicles from that to deliver the food to people,’ Brian said, adding that all of the WLD’s supports will still be accessible during the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, before that food can be delivered anywhere it must go through rigorous hygiene checks.
‘We have very strict protocols surrounding the handling of food, we would have had it anyway but it’s been ramped up because of the virus,’ Paul says.
‘The first thing we do before we even open the boxes is wipe down everything with disinfectant and then leave it all overnight for 24 hours. Then we take the products out of the cartons and wipe them down again,
‘And then finally we place them into hygienically pacakaged bags.’
And Paul admits the content of their deliveries is somewhat ironic in the current circumstances.
‘It’s all non-perishable goods, which is interesting in a way because that’s the food people are trying to get their hands on in the supermarkets.’