A partnership between the Thompson Seniors Community Resource Council and the Ma-Mow-We-Tak Friendship Centre is ensuring that 10 low-income seniors in the city receive a weekly food hamper, thanks to a grant from the Thompson Community Foundation.
Designed to combat the isolation that can threaten the physical and mental health of older people, particularly due to the combination of the COVID-19 pandemic and Northern Manitoba’s winter weather, the program will deliver a hamper of grocery items worth $60 to lower-income seniors until the end of March.
“It’s part of our ‘Food on the Table for Winter' initiative,” Thompson Seniors Community Resource Council chair Linda Dearman said in a press release. “We recognize that to stay healthy, our senior citizens need to eat regularly and have access to healthy food choices. So, we developed the concept, applied for funding and were thrilled when we received confirmation we’d been approved.”
The program was developed with assistance from the friendship centre, which also provides volunteers to help deliver the hampers.
“We hope we can work together on more projects to benefit our older population as we move forward,” says Dearman.
If hamper recipients have particular need for items such as toiletries or paper products, these can be included in the hampers.
For more information about the hamper program or the Thompson Seniors Community Resource Council, contact Penny Byer at [email protected] or 204-677-0987.
