Volunteers needed to help feed Subury's vulnerable population

It's another huge impact of the pandemic. Many non profits like the Elgin Street Mission that rely on volunteers to operate and deliver many social services are running low on people willing to give of their time.

It comes at a time when the need to prepare more meals is rising, but volunteer numbers are down.

The Elgin Street Mission relies almost solely on volunteers to prepare breakfast and supper to feed more people struggling with food insecurity every day.

"We saw an increase of meals at 1,100 extra meals between the month of July and August and so serving that many more meals we do need more help," said Amanda Robichaud, director of the Elgin Street Mission.

Officials said their volunteer base is down by 20 per cent, making it a real struggle to meet the growing need. The Mission has now made its volunteer schedule more flexible.

"We want to be very, very flexible for the good people who give their time here," said Robichaud.

"And we know that people have busy schedules and so we have different hours during the day, during the evening and on weekends."

Officials said the volunteer shortage has forced the Elgin Street Mission to close coffee hour from 9:30-11 a.m., Monday to Friday, something clients miss dearly.

"This is where they sit together as a family and talk amongst each other," said Ginette Grandmaison, the facility supervisor.

"It's a sense of their piece of feeling of wanting and needing. They miss it a lot I hear it every day."

A recent survey by the Ontario Nonprofit Network shows 62 per cent of organizations have lost volunteers, more than half report having difficulty recruiting new ones and 40 per cent are busy convincing previous volunteers to return.