SOY Participants Give Back

From packing life-saving harm reduction kits to providing organizational oversight on our Board of Directors, volunteers have a critical role in strengthening Sherbourne Health’s services. Recently, several enthusiastic volunteers went above and beyond to help downtown east communities experiencing food insecurity.

At the start of the year, our program leaders and care providers reported more of their clients sharing that they were having trouble accessing food and meeting their basic needs. To quickly and effectively respond to this urgent community issue, we launched a short-term grocery relief program that met the needs of our service users experiencing food insecurity.

Running from January to February, eight youth who attend Supporting Our Youth’s Black Queer Youth and SOY Lead programs volunteered their time to organize and distribute grocery hampers. More than 149 grocery hampers were made available to Sherbourne Health service users and program participants.

“For me, it’s meaningful to see and meet people receiving these hampers. I know what it’s like to not have food, it’s nice for people to access this type of program – especially now that needs have increased,” said Max, a volunteer.

The hampers were filled with ready-to-eat snacks and meals, prioritized for people without access to a kitchen, as well as bags of ingredients with healthy recipes prepared by our community dietitians. Each hamper also included a coupon for Food for Good Market Greens, an affordable weekly market offered by Sherbourne Health.

For volunteers, the program was a valuable way to help out, as well as get to know their neighbours.

“People are always smiling when they get the hampers. I feel super comfortable here,” Kassandra, another volunteer, said. 

Nadjib Alamyar, Senior Program Manager of Community Health and Capacity Initiatives, commended the support from the volunteers, who ranged from recent newcomers who immigrated from the Caribbean to long-time SOY attendees.

“SOY youth volunteers not only bring fresh perspectives and energy to our drop-in programs, but also play a pivotal role in community building efforts such as food hamper distribution and meal preparation for our participants, all while actively learning valuable skills and building capacity for future endeavors,” said Nadjib.

In the future, Kassandra, Max, and their fellow volunteers hope to support more food insecurity-related programming and urge anyone interested in volunteering to pitch in where they are needed most.

“I wouldn’t have experienced meeting different people if not for this,” Kassandra said. “It was really fun! You don’t really have to know someone to laugh and help out with them. I would advise anyone to try it.”

With your help, Sherbourne helps make health and wellness possible for more people. To learn more about our volunteer program, visit https://sherbourne.on.ca/get-involved/volunteer/