COVID-19 outbreak puts added burden on N.B. soup kitchens

Dave Small is in need of one thing to keep the Ray of Hope Soup Kitchen in Moncton open — hand sanitizer.

"Right now it's impossible to find any hand sanitizer," he said. "All the stores are sold out." 

The board chair said he spent Saturday trying to find enough to stay open for at least a few days. 

"We want to certainly do whatever we can to stay open because our clients still need to eat," he said.

In light of COVID-19, Small said the soup kitchen wanted to have hand sanitizer for people to use as they entered the dining area and when they left. Some on the tables in the dining room would be helpful, too.

"We've reached out to a couple of wholesalers to see if we can find some, or institutional suppliers, but we haven't heard anything yet, so I'm crossing my fingers and hoping our social media post might scare up some," said Small. 

Shelves empty

On Saturday, Small went to Facebook to ask for help.

If no hand sanitizer can be found, Small said those who use the kitchen to get a meal during the day would either go hungry or have to find their way to another soup kitchen in the city, if others stay open.

"They face the same things as we are," he said. "If some of them have secured a source of disinfectant and hand sanitizers, they could remain open, but we really need to stay open because they rely on us. We're doing whatever we can." 

Small said he asked some pharmacies to set some aside if they had some. If not, he asked them to put some aside from the next order. Even that could not be guaranteed. 

"Somebody out there has some because the shelves are empty, so I'm hoping a few folks might provide some to us or sell some to us." 

Small said the Ray of Hope Soup Kitchen feeds up to 120 people per day. 

Dining room closed

Meanwhile, the Fredericton Community Kitchen will be making some changes to how it will serve guests starting Monday morning. 

Mike Smith, who operates the kitchen, said it was decided Friday to keep the kitchen open. Meals will be served in containers and handed out as each person arrives. 

"Our guests won't be coming in and being in close proximity to each other," Smith said.

While it's not an ideal situation, Smith said they'd never consider closing their doors unless ordered to by the province.

"Absolutely not," Smith said. "Our service in the city of Fredericton is absolutely necessary.

"There are a lot of people who count on us to be there. We feed 100 to 150 meals at each meal service."  

The number of volunteers will be limited in the kitchen and they will leave as soon as each meal is prepared. Only the kitchen staff will hand out the meals. 

Smith said he plans to be at the community kitchen on Sunday to explain to people why the changes are being made.

"I'm going to explain why we're doing what we're doing. It will be a surprise to them but we feel it's necessary for their sake, as well as for our volunteers and staff."