On Wednesday, I had the great pleasure of meeting the passionate people who work at the Britannia Woods Community House in Ottawa.
I was helping the good people at Chevrolet and the United Way deliver much needed food and other supplies to the Britannia Woods Community House, which in turns gets it to the Ritchie St. housing complex needy.
In 2011, 7007 members of the community received food from the Emergency Food Pantry. That's 63,063 meals from a pantry staffed by 43 volunteers who each log an average of 350 hours of service per month. This was the state of the non-perishable food in the Emergency Food Pantry the day I visited.
It was truly eye-opening to see how the community relied on these services, including an under-funded computer room where students research and write essays they can then print for school. I'm told funding for this service has already been cut and they're not sure it will be operational at the end of this month.
Despite the constant struggle for money and food donations, I witnessed great hope. The passion from the staff and volunteers was abundant and the children's programs seemed to be thriving.
I'd like to thank Britannia Woods Community House for opening their doors to us and letting us lend a helping hand. And I'd especially like to thank Chevrolet for buying the supplies and setting this up with the United Way. It was great shot of perspective and I needed that.
