With Manitoba schools now suspended indefinitely, many families in the community are dealing with uncertainty.
This is especially true for those who rely on in-school lunch programs, and so the Church of Christ Dauphin is stepping up to help address food insecurity.
Minister Wayne Olsen tells CKDM the church started delivering meals three times a week as soon as Manitoba schools K-12 were suspended. Over the past three weeks, that's worked out to about 170 meals every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
He says this kind of food program is totally new to them, costing about $1,000 a week to run. Going forward, Wayne says his church is looking to start delivering meals only twice a week in order to extend the amount of time the Church can fund this great initiative.
Wayne also commends the great work being done at the Dauphin and District Food Bank through this time, and says the food bank has been doing things a bit differently because of COVID-19. As a safety measure, food is being prepackaged into boxes.
As for church services, Wayne tells us they are still on hold as a result of social distancing guidelines from public health authorities.
Many congregations have been using Zoom and Facebook Live as a way for people to congregate, see each other, and communicate online.
Wayne points out the silver lining of the situation, as he’s noticed people from California, Texas, British Columbia and Alberta able to join the online church services; something that would not have been possible before.
