They’re called the Grocery Angels at the Prince George Council of Seniors.
It’s a movement that started with people who grew up across the street from each other in Prince George who remember what it’s like not having much but always having enough.
“For us it’s all about the food,” Rose Halsall, one of the Grocery Angels, said.
Nicole Currie, who is the Meals on Wheels coordinator and a friend of Halsall's, shared a sad story about an elderly couple who was splitting a bowl of Cheerios a day to keep from starving.
So Halsall and a group of friends asked if they could provide basic groceries so that didn’t ever happen again.
“And that’s when we got connected to this angel,” Halsall said about Terry Runions, Better at Home coordinator for the Prince George Council of Seniors, who named the group the Grocery Angels.
The group, that has now grown to 25, started off regularly providing groceries to two seniors and most recently expanded to help out three.
“Every three months we all chip in a modest amount that’s sustainable and right off the bat we were able to adopt two seniors,” Halsall said.
“This group of individuals do all the shopping and the deliveries,” Runions said. “Recently they delivered to three clients and on average the grocery bill was about $200 for each of them.”
Runions said she likes to chat with the client to get to know them a bit and also asks if there is something they haven’t had in a while that they missed.
When dill pickle chips are considered a luxury item and a senior hugs a boxed frozen ham and pineapple pizza and sighs with delight after not being able to afford the treat for three years, you know there’s something wrong in this world and the Grocery Angels have changed that.
The Grocery Angels not only take the basic grocery list but then go that extra bit to try to provide the treat, too, because it’s important the clients know they matter.
There’s also homemade baking and canning, toilet paper and cleaning products added to the delivery.
“It’s just so heartwarming,” Runions said about the actions taken by the group.
Halsall said she likes it that the Prince George Council of Seniors staff operates as a coordinated team and not only do the Better at Home clients get provided what they need, it also extends to the Housing and Community Navigator and Meals on Wheels clients as well.
“They all see the need and then we can fill that need,” Halsall said. “We’re so glad we found Terry to help us with this venture. It’s so rewarding – we get cards, we get hugs, we see tears. We know we’re making a difference.”
To find out how you can donate to the Grocery Angels cause or contribute items to the Prince George Council of Seniors Kindness Nook where personal hygiene products, non-perishable food items or even meal replacement drinks, can be donated, email [email protected] or visit the Seniors Resource Centre at 1330 Fifth Avenue.
