There is now a Saskatoon Covid-19 Community Response Fund which is a group of more than 120 local organizations and agencies whose goal is to support the most vulnerable in the midst of the pandemic.

That in turn also means supporting the people working on the front-line who help the most vulnerable. Carm Michalenko, Executive Director of the Saskatoon Community Foundation, says their foundation and the United Way, have portals on their websites where donations can be made and a charitable donation receipt is issued right away.

Some of their priorities when it comes to homelessness and food insecurity include food and water, cleaning supplies, personal protective equipment, hand sanitizer, take-out supplies for food so food programs can still provide, transportation for delivery and even hampers for those self isolating which would include things like household goods, food and kids’ activities.

Michalenko says many of the agencies have had to shift how they function in order to continue to provide services.

“It may not be obvious that kids aren’t being fed when they previously would have had a breakfast program or a lunch program. So, say an organization like CHEP who does delivery of food and lunches to schools, they have to re-engineer what they are doing rather quickly and they need financial resources to be able to do that, as well as human resources.”

She says the funding from government has not come to fruition quickly so their role as a community foundation is try to mobilize resources – their donors – as well as donations to the Fund in order to provide an immediate response where it is needed.