A food box provided the Good Food Box Program which is operated by the Community Development Council of Quinte. These boxes are set to become more popular once CERB ends. Photo from CDC Quinte at http://cdcquinte.com/programs/good-food-box/
By Laural Samson [1]
BELLEVILLE – Social service organizations in the area are already struggling to keep up with the growing number of people in need. And with Canadian Emergency Revenue Benefit (CERB) [2] ending in just a couple days, some organizations aren’t sure how they will keep supporting the community.
“We’re actually at that point where we just can’t physically do it,” Debbie Pike, the founder of Not Alone Team Quinte, [3]said. “Without volunteers and with the new guidelines, we just don’t know how to. We are out of supplies. Without funding, we are pretty much at a standstill.”
Since CERB began on Mar. 15, the federal government has paid out over $79 billion dollars to Canadians in need. This included up to $2,000 ever four weeks, for a total of seven periods.
But now, the CERB program is transitioning to EI, and will leave many Canadians left wondering how to supplement the difference in income.
Some may turn to social service organizations, such as Not Alone Team Quinte Inc and the Community Development Council of Quinte [4], to help make ends meet.
Pike says that since the beginning of the pandemic, N.A.T. Quinte has been working around the clock to help over a thousand people in need.
“We did seven frozen meals twice a week and we dropped them off so that they would have enough food for the week. We were doing hot meals for those that couldn’t cook. A lot of work went into it.”
And although N.A.T. Quinte did receive funding at the beginning of CERB, that money, which funded the frozen dinners for the last seven months, is all gone.
“There is a lot more insecurity right now. The pandemic is making a lot of people homeless. We are finding the numbers are increasing through all the organizations.”
And with the end of CERB looming closer, Pike says she expects another big increase in people looking at housing and food insecurity.
“We are seeing numbers increase already – it’s scary,” Pike said about people already relying on N.A.T. to survive. “I’m getting calls at 3 a.m. in the morning that people are getting evicted and don’t know what to do.”
Another organization that is offering assistance through the form of affordable food boxes is also preparing for the end of CERB.
The executive director of the Community Development Council of Quinte, Ruth Ingersoll, says the organization is now used to making changes in how they deliver their Good Food Box program.
“One thing we have done during COVID is go online for ordering. We’ve seen a really big upsurge in a lot of new customers that way.”
Online ordering is only available for Trenton and Belleville residents, as Ingersoll says that is all they can handle right now.
And while they have been able to keep their operation small and manageable, they are expecting their numbers to continue to increase as CERB ends.
“We’re projecting that once CERB is completed, and people don’t have that money and are going back on EI or don’t have a job to go back to, they won’t be able to live on 55% of what they were making before.”
And Ingersoll says that when people have transitioned to EI, and are unable to live on the smaller amount, they will be relying on services such as the Good Food box, even more.
“With our Good Food produce bag that we do right now, we are expecting that we are going to see a surge. We are seeing numbers go up.”
Unfortunately, the CDC Quinte is unsure of how they are going to cope with the increase, as Ingersoll said that they are among the community that is struggling during the pandemic.
“Our social programs- there is going to be so much reliance on them–I’m not sure where it’s going to break, but the system is going to break somewhere.”