Souls Harbour making do with less as COVID-19 causes surge in demand

Souls Harbour Rescue Mission is feeding more people these days with fewer staff as the charity works hard to keep its three Nova Scotia locations open as many other charities close due to COVID-19.

CEO Michelle Porter told CBC's Information Morning that volunteers are now serving about 200 bagged lunches a day. The charity has locations in Halifax, Bridgewater and Truro.

"It's difficult with the new restrictions with only five people allowed in our dining room and kitchen area, but we're working hard," she said.

The requirement that Nova Scotians should stand at least two metres apart makes serving meals a challenge, but not impossible, she added.

A longtime volunteer who knows most clients by name hands out hot meals at the door by stretching out his arms as far as they can go.

'[He] holds the bag by the top, asks the person to stretch their arms out and they catch it at the bottom and then they disperse as quickly as possible," Porter said.

Meals cost more now

Souls Harbour switched to serving bagged lunches at the door last week when the province announced its first wave of restrictions aimed at minimizing the spread of the novel coronavirus.

As of Tuesday, there were 51 cases of COVID-19 reported in Nova Scotia, which has been under a state of emergency since Sunday.

Making hundreds of bagged lunches costs more money. A typical meal used to cost $3.11 and now it's up to $4.85, Porter said.

Souls Harbour is partly relying on food donated by local restaurants that were forced to shut down and lay off staff due to COVID-19.

While Souls Harbour's three locations have remained open, its thrift store, which is partly run by volunteers, closed Friday.

"That was my hardest day. I cried. It was really hard," she said. "But everyone took it amazingly, like a trooper and they're just doing what they can from afar."

This week, Souls Harbour started throwing in "a happy pack" with everyone's meal, which includes a pair of socks, a hygiene item, stuffed animal and a book.

"The word on the street is definitely gratitude," Porter said. "People are just so thankful that we're open and they've said, 'I probably wouldn't get anything to eat today if it wasn't for you guys.'"

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