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Salvation Army needs
food donations to cope with aftermath of flood Since the Peterborough area was inundated by about 200 millimetres of rain in a few hours early July 15, the local Salvation Army has served more than 10,000 meals to residents, volunteers and work crews. Under the official emergency preparation plan for the city, the Salvation Army is the official food provider in a disaster and has filled that role extremely well since the storm. The Army has provided coffee, bottled water, clothing, furniture and pastoral care. City officials are now estimating that one in every five homes in the city were affected by the flooding and backup of sewage that resulted from the torrential downpour. "The city is now looking to us to provide food packages for a number of months but we don't have the food right now to sustain that kind of effort," says a worried Maj. Greg Simmonds who, with his wife Maj. Marjorie Simmonds, are pastors at the Peterborough temple. The Salvation Army already provided food to 800 families on an ongoing basis before the flood and will be hard-pressed to keep up with the increasing demand, Maj. Simmonds says. Kawartha Food Share has said they will help with emergency food boxes but the Salvation Army is also hoping for donations of non-perishable foods from the public, he says. Donations can be dropped off at the Army's family service centre at 219 Simcoe St. The Army was waiting at the evacuation centre at the Envinrude Centre just after 6 a.m. July 15 when 172 residents of Extendicare nursing home were evacuated from their home because of flooding. "We called in our volunteers, then our reserve volunteers," recalls Maj. Simmonds. "People from the community started to come in as volunteers as well. In all, more than 2,000 volunteer hours have been accumulated." Credit must go to the community for rallying to help, he says. "It was amazing, just a marvellous community effort." Maj. Simmonds also praised businesses who contributed. He gave the example of Tim Hortons which provided "all the coffee we needed while other businesses provided the food." The Army was serving 700 to 800 meals a day in the Evinrude Centre as well as providing pastoral care. When the first wave of cheques for emergency relief were being handed out, the Army was there, handing out thousands of bottles of water to those standing in the heat in a line stretching around city hall and down the street. When the evacuation centre was moved to Trent University's city campus, Army volunteers were feeding emergency workers and evacuees. They are still dishing out 240 meals a day at the centre. This week, 30 Salvation Army volunteers opened the We Care Centre in the Brookdale Plaza on Chemong Road after packing donated space with stoves, fridges, chesterfields and clothing needed by those who lost most of their belongings. They helped 60 to 70 eligible families the first day they opened. Vouchers for new clothing have been handed out by the Army to 1,361 people who lost everything but the clothes on their backs when the rains came. "It's been very traumatic for some people," says Maj. Simmonds. He talked of one couple with four children who stayed in their home but were told they had to leave because there were signs of the beginning of mould and are now living in the evacuation centre. The efforts of the Salvation Army staff and volunteers have not gone unnoticed by those they have helped. Residents at the evacuation centre at Trent presented Salvation army workers with a bouquet of flowers to show their appreciation.. "Here are these folks, totally displaced, who lost pretty much everything, and they collected enough among themselves to buy flowers," says Maj. Simmonds. "That is very touching." |
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