Feeding the neighbourhood through the kitchen window
Closed drop-in centre staff continue giving food to those in need
NOTE TO READERS: As the community grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic, there are those who keep other people safe and keep essential services running, including doctors and nurses, grocery store clerks and garbage collectors. These are their stories from the front line of Niagara’s battle with the novel coronavirus.
Grazia Sheppard doesn’t know the personal struggles of every individual who comes to the kitchen window at Westview Centre4Women in St. Catharines.
Some are sex trade workers. Some are homeless. Some are having trouble making ends meet.
She just knows they’re hungry and need help.
“At this time, I don’t care who you are. You’re at my window, you’re in need and I’m giving you what you need,” said Sheppard, the Queenston Street centre’s program director. “That’s what we’re doing.” Westview Centre4Women has been serving long lines since it opened its kitchen window after March break for three days a week. Those lines keep growing.
The women’s drop-in centre had to close to the public because of the COVID-19 pandemic, so it decided to offer lunches and groceries through the window to continue to support its participants who are on very limited incomes.
“It has snowballed,” said Sheppard. “We’ve got women. We’ve got men. We’ve got people with families that are coming to the window and saying ‘you know what, I’ve got three kids at home.’ ”
Most are strangers but all are served.
Executive director Jane LaVacca said the centre has been handing out 500 sandwiches a week and more than 100 cups of coffee and 100 soups each day. It has given out 300 bags of groceries each week.
Two staff, two volunteers and LaVacca’s husband, who picks up food donations, are running the operation wearing masks and gloves. The window is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday to Thursday. LaVacca said some people don’t qualify for any financial programs because they’re sex trade workers or work under the table and they aren’t making money now.
“I know a lot of people will read that in the newspaper and say, that is your fault. You shouldn’t be a sex trade worker, you shouldn’t be working under the table in Canada, that’s not the way we work,” she said.
“I understand all that, but the reality is they are still people and they need food.”
Others showing up are in between social assistance cheques and are finding the money isn’t going as far as it used to. With people at home and many out of work, LaVacca said lower cost goods at grocery stores are selling out fast. It used to be easier to find a $1.80 loaf of bread, whereas now it’s the $3 to $5 loaves available because everything is picked over.
The centre is also getting quite a few single men who are sleeping in nearby Centennial Gardens and others showing up at the window wrapped in blankets.
She said it will hand out single serve yogurts and someone will ask for a spoon because there isn’t cutlery at home. Some don’t have a home.
“You’re finding out not everybody goes back to an apartment or a room,” LaVacca said.
The centre needs food donations such as granola bars, sandwich fillings, drink boxes, individually wrapped cookies and supplies for takeout, such as cups and bowls with lids and paper bags.
Donations can be dropped off at 124 Queenston St. between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Tuesday to Thursday. People can donate money through the website Canada Helps or send an etransfer to WestviewCF@cogeco.net.
Sheppard said she’s glad to help people through the pandemic.
“When I see the people I’m giving the bagged lunches to and the groceries to, I’m so thankful to be here to do that,” she said. “The COVID doesn’t pop into my head, aside from the fact we’re handing it out through a window.”