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Donation by Sudbury physicians help's city's vulnerable population

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Sudbury -

On Thursday, a group of Sudbury physicians made a generous donation to the Inner Home of Sudbury.

Originally, the group was raising money for PPE purchases during the COVID-19 pandemic, but had money left over. The group decided to donate it locally to help people who are struggling.

It was a donation of more than $100,000 to the Inner Home of Sudbury.

"The economy is changing. It's not just the pandemic but the cost of living is increasing. People are taking their cars off the roads, cancelling insurance, housing is precarious," said Jennifer Grooms, executive director of the Inner City Home of Sudbury.

"People are having difficulty meeting those needs. About 75 per cent of household incomes are going to shelter. So that doesn't leave a lot of room for food and support."

The non profit is an emergency food bank that also offers crisis support.

"Things have really blossomed as far as people in need of food and help especially the families and children," said Joe Drago, president of Inner City Home of Sudbury. "And the children, it breaks your heart to see young kids that don't have enough to eat."

During the pandemic when there was a critical shortage of PPE, local doctors raised money to buy it. When the supply chain improved, they ended up with a surplus of equipment.

"We had a reach out from one of our physicians from India who wanted to help out in his home country," said Dr. Stephen Morris, one of the organizers of the Sudbury Physicians PPE Fund.

"We knew they were in a dire situation there with respect to the pandemic and the shortage of PPE, so we actually shipped all of our equipment."

The group also had a surplus of donated money it wanted to donate to local causes.

"We see it every day in the hospital. There is a lot of desperation. There is a lot of people in difficult situations, whether it be financially, socially. You know people have trouble just getting food on a daily basis," said Morris.

Right now, the Inner City Home of Sudbury said it's seeing the number of people in need of help increasing daily. Among those are more than 3,000 children the home has helped in the last year. 

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