This is going to be a hard thread for some to read. Some of you might cry, Some just shed a few tears, Some of you may be angry & outraged at what has transpired...But as we have come to learn, this is the reality of running a non profit and helping people who need help the most.
We have gotten to the place where we swore to ourselves that we would never go.
We tried so hard...everyone of our Full Time volunteer staff and our other Part Time volunteers have all put blood, sweat & tears into running @HarvestHillsYYC and helping our fellow #Calgarians.
We have tried to keep up with demand, tried to keep up with running our social media profiles and our website, tried to keep up with the massive amount of assistance requests that have come up ever since the latest restrictions have come into play...We legitimately have tried...
We have finally gotten to the point where we have to pick and choose who we help based on need.
We have gotten to the point where we cannot help everyone that comes to us because we do not have the donations nor the funding to help everyone that does come to us for assistance.
We do not believe that one person, one family, one single parent, or one senior deserves to be helped over another.
We believe that everyone deserves to be helped. We believe that at the very least...every single person deserves to be treated with compassion and decency.
We did not want to have to arrive to this place...but a little over a year into the pandemic with #COVID19, we have.
To admit to everyone that we have arrived at such a place...feels like we are admitting defeat at what we stand for.
For that we are devastated to say the least
We would love to have some help. If there is anyone in Calgary, Any Group, Any Organization, or Any Business out and about in Calgary that would like to volunteer with us, we would absolutely love that!!!
If you are not able to volunteer, would you please consider donating to @HarvestHillsYYC
We are in need of financial donations as well as food donations. We have temporarily suspended our clothing and furniture donation intake program. We hope to resume that as soon as we can.
If you are not able to donate, you can help us out A LOT by sharing our posts and retweeting our tweets.
You can tag other people that you think may be able to help us as well.
We are all Volunteers, Im helping Jen out tonight because she has done so much & I have literally taken the phone out of her hand & told her to go take some time for herself.
My name is Mandy. I am a volunteer for @HarvestHillsYYC. Jen and I have tackled the deliveries for the past week & this weekend because of some other volunteers that tested positive for #COVID19.
Everyone can see that Jen is tired and burning out. I would love to turn the phone back over to Jen on Wednesday & see that @HarvestHillsYYC is not in the negative & is able to help everyone currently waiting instead of having to choose who to help & who is going to have to wait.
If there is anyone that could help fill two serious requests. One is for a single father fleeing family domestic violence & the other is for a single senior needing help with medication that she can’t afford.
To fill these two requests and the two from last night we need $980.00
Dm us for more information.
The single father needs $380.00 for rent.
The single senior needs $476.00 for her meds that aren’t covered.
Today I was driving in the NE & I saw someone going through a garbage/recycling bin looking for something to eat
I immediately pulled over and asked them if we could help
The gentleman broke down crying and said he didn’t know what else to do. He’s never been homeless before.
He went on to say that he was new to being homeless and didn’t know anything. He used the last of his money to rent a room for a week in a motel where...well let’s just say it wasn’t the best place.
I asked him what he needed immediately and he said he needed to eat.
So we bought him some food. As we were eating our @McDonaldsCanada together he told me his story.
He came to Alberta looking for a job. Just before covid hit he had a job with a directional drilling company.
"Hello Jen, I was hoping I would be able to contact you before I left my work for the day in regards to a rather important situation that came across my desk this afternoon. I hope you have the time to chat?"
Yesterday, we had a call. A call that made 3 of my volunteers cry.
You see, an individual in need contacted @HarvestHillsYYC and asked for help with food. We have permission to tell his story and share his request with everyone.
It started off with a phone call to a new volunteer that was on her first on call shift over the Christmas Break. "N" called and left a message in which he asked to be called back as soon as possible.
So our volunteer Melanie returned his call.
She asked N what he needed help with & he said he needed help with food/rent cause he could pay his rent & not eat for the month & maybe eat once every 3 to 4 days....or pay some of his rent and be able to eat everyday and hope he could find the money to pay the rest of his rent.
After a day of delivering shopping for and hampers with @merylyyc, I was dropping my daughter off at her dads for the week when I first got a call from a single mom that needed help.
Picture below is a truck full of hampers!
I answered the phone and explained the steps this person on the phone needed to do to apply for assistance. She told me she would head to the site right away.....and she did.
So this 🚨Emergency🚨 came in tonight. (See photo of email).
I immediately contacted her and asked her what she immediately needed. She explained that she needed to get out of the room she is sharing with her children & into a basement suite
She then said she wanted a meal or two so she could eat like a family with her kids for Christmas.