Organizations have rallied to support their communities during Easter weekend, like the Lloydminster Exhibition Association. (Submitted photo/Jackie Tomayer)

By Josh Ryan

Keeping Easter Happy

Local organizations stepping up to feed communities during pandemic

Apr 15, 2020 | 5:11 PM

Social distancing, banning of public gatherings and other COVID-19 measures couldn’t curb the spirit of giving on Easter weekend, as non-profits and low income families were on the receiving end of kindness from their fellow citizens.

Nicole Combres, Executive Director of the Boys and Girls Club’s of the Battlefords, said Easter showcased local support at its finest. Blend Restaurant & Bar provided the proceeds of their Easter Meal special over the weekend to the clubs. The number of donations from Blend and the public is still being tallied.

“Now more than ever, our community members are seeing the importance of giving and supporting one another,” Combres said. “And they saw this as an opportunity.”

She expected donations to reduce after the world was plunged into the current pandemic. Instead, she’s seen the opposite.

“Whether it’s monetary donations or in kind donations, we’ve been getting calls and emails from many people asking how they can help out. Even if they haven’t donated before.”

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That generosity extends west to Lloydminster. The Lloyd Agricultural Exhibition Association offered an Easter meal to residents, resulting in more than 370 orders that the staff delivered, along with nine free meals for the RCMP detachment. The meals were designed to help families with meals of a more “typical” size.

“Why don’t we offer an individual and family sized meal,” said Marketing Manager Jackie Tomayer. “Then people aren’t going to the grocery store and are getting a portion size that’s proper for them.”

Several people ordered extra meals to provide for other households. Tomayer was moved by the gestures many made for extended family.

“One patriarch of a family bought four different meals for his four children and their families,” she said. “We had one lady from Calgary that phoned and ordered a meal for her mum, as she would normally come up here and spend Easter with her mum in the senior’s facility, but she couldn’t.”

Delivering meals for other families has a benefit for those delivering the meals as well. Not being able to help people in the community has been hard for the Lloyd Ex. staff, where they have largely been unable to provide services.

“We felt like a team again, getting people to come together,” Tomayer said. “It was pretty uplifting.”

And that kind of spirit is what Combres believes will help her community make it through this pandemic.

“We’ve had our donors asking how they can do more and our community members asking how they can do more, during a time like this,” she said. “It just makes me incredibly proud to be from the Battlefords.”

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josh.ryan@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @JoshRyanSports