On Saturday, the community will line the streets of Morden to enjoy the annual Corn & Apple parade. Usually, the parade entries are the ones handing out goodies, but this year, Many Hands is encouraging the opposite to help individuals facing food insecurity.
Many Hands will be pushing grocery carts in the parade to collect non-perishable food items along the way. The new initiative comes amid the charity’s recent discovery that it serves twice as many families as originally estimated.
“This is our first time participating in the parade,” says Mariyam Tsygankova, executive director of Many Hands Resource Centre in Morden. “We are so excited.”
As for what to bring, Tsygankova says that the charity, which will be wearing green shirts in the parade, will accept a wide variety of food items.
“Please bring a can of soup, or pasta sauce, or veggies,” she says. “Even pasta or rice. We will be accepting everything.”
Tsygankova says that while people tend to ask which items the charity needs most, there is not really anything in particular that is most important — a good mix is what Many Hands would like to see. On Tuesdays, the food bank day, the shelves always start full and end empty, so all dried or preserved goods are welcomed and helpful.
In general, food donations are always desired.
“[The need is] large, it's across Canada,” says Tsygankova. “[Approximately] one in four people can't afford food in Canada, . . . that's about 7.8 million people.”
According to Statistics Canada, the rate of Canadians experiencing food insecurity jumped from 12.9% in 2021 to 16.9% in 2022. For Many Hands, the number of families who access service is not only growing, but it also comes as a surprise to the charity.
“We used to think that we have about 200 families coming each month, not people, [but whole] families,” she says. “In February of this year [however], we started implementing the new database . . . and a few weeks ago we got a number. It's not the final yet, we still have 70 families left to be entered into the database, but so far, we have about 400 families coming.”
Tsygankova says that the discovery is “shocking” to Many Hands. Overall, there are just shy 800 people registered, and 300 are children. In a city like Morden with a population of nearly 10,000 residents, the number is significant.
According to Tsygankova, some families come every other week, and others come monthly. Many Hands primarily provides families with food hampers, but in practice, the service goes beyond food.
“We try to connect [the families] to other programs that help to promote self-sufficiency. For example, community gardens, where we encourage people to grow their own produce because now everything is so expensive,” she says. “We [also] encourage them to attend our drop-in nights because we have so many lonely people among the food bank clients . . . . [The] community meal is for everybody. You can come enjoy supper to meet new people, to have wonderful conversations. So that's what we do. I always say that at Many Hands, it's a little bit more than a food hamper.”
Given the large number of families who access the services at Many Hands, community involvement with the charity is always encouraged. Tsygankova invites anyone interested in volunteer board positions to contact Many Hands.
“We are a volunteer-based organization. I cannot imagine what we would do without wonderful people,” she says. “We are looking for volunteers. We are seeking passionate and dedicated individuals to join our board, so, if you have heart for community service and you want to make meaningful impact, we invite you to be part of our mission.”
Tsygankova has been in her position of executive director for two years, and she finds it enriching.
“I love what I do. I love [the] people I work with, our wonderful volunteers,” she says. “You [come to] understand why . . . your job is important.”
Whether one brings items to fill the shelves at Many Hands or becomes involved in the charity itself, for Tsygankova, every bit of help is valuable.
“I encourage people to come and help out because . . . community is everything. We are not a government-funded organization. We exist because community supports us,” she says. “When people come together for shared cost, they can do amazing things. Incredible things. We have to remember that we have neighbours who [are] probably [in] need and [we] just don't know it.”
To become involved with Many Hands, see their website here. As for Saturday’s parade, if you’re able, bring a non-perishable and keep an eye out for the group of smiling volunteers pushing grocery carts and wearing bright green.
~With files from Connie Bailey and Ty Hildebrand~