Friends,
A few months back, a community member came into It Takes A Village for support with food security. Many community members do, but this particular person left a mark on the soul of the volunteer who served him that day and exemplified the importance of organizations continuously evolving and adapting, as the needs of a community change.
In our organization we have a “self-attesting” food bank, which means that if someone needs food, no identifying information is required. We simply take people at their word that they are hungry.
COVID and the subsequent recession has changed the face of need, both in our local and global communities, and people who have never before reached out for support are now having to do so. Two-income families, men, youth, seniors and many new immigrants and migrant workers.
But this gentleman that day was a profoundly moving example of the need for dignity, empathy and compassion, and the difficulty for someone who has worked most of their life and raised a family, and now needs support to get by.
I was doing something in the back of the Village when volunteer Steven came back to find me.
“Hey,” he said. “Do you have a sec?”
Before I continue, please let me interject here and share that in the Village we have two locations for toilet paper. This often-overlooked household staple is an important addition to the parcels most food banks offer. With us, we can give folks a roll a week. So, when ITAV’s food bank runs out or we haven’t purchased more yet, there’s none to go around. To avert an embarrassingly human crisis, we have our second stash of this precious commodity, hidden away in a closet, because if we give it all away we have no toilet paper for our own washroom! So, when Steven came back and asked if he could give a community member a roll from our own private stash, I was curious.
Volunteer Steven is a beautiful human, with the gifts of empathy and compassion. I could see in his face that whomever needed the toilet paper had moved his soul.
“Sure,” I replied. “What’s up?”
Steven went on to express that a lovely senior gentleman had come in and, in a quiet voice, expressed that he had heard he could get some food here without needing to give his information. Steven went on to share, clearly touched as he spoke, that this community member had asked only for two cans of soup and a roll of toilet paper, “just enough to hold him until his CPP payment came at the end of the month.”
As Steven shared this man’s request, I felt in my belly what it must have taken for this retired and proud community member to come in and ask for these simple needs. I asked Steven, as we discussed how many days were left before CPP arrived, what he understood about this patron.
“Well, how important dignity is to him, because he’s only asking for soup and toilet paper and he has five more days to get through,” he said.
My heart smiled. Dignity is most certainly the language we need as a community, now more than ever. This person likely needed more but couldn’t allow himself to ask.
Volunteer Steven took a roll of toilet paper from the mop closet and packed it in the bag for this gentleman, along with the other items we can offer someone weekly. After a few minutes, Steven came back and said the gentleman saw someone else get a razor and quietly asked if he might take one also. We spoke a little about this experience, as Steven shared that it was so difficult to see how elderly people are struggling and the gratitude we feel when we see seniors wheel their scooters up to our “Give & Take” stand out front and, relatively unnoticed, take food. Steven commented that he was really happy to have been on shift today, when that gentleman came in. I’m not sure who gained more actually, Steven or that beautiful senior.
Either way, everyone was where they were needed. That is community.
Take good care of each other, friends.
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Andrea Charest serves as director of It Takes A Village in Listowel.
