Dear Brothers and Sisters,

As a result of Covid-19, some Conferences and Councils will experience financial hardship and some may struggle to be able to help people in need in their community. When this happens, these Conferences/Councils should approach the next higher level for financial assistance, for example, Conferences approach their Particular Council and Particular Councils approach their Central Council. Ontario Regional Council has put a policy in place to pass down funds in the event of financial hardship after all Conference/Council resources have been depleted. Isolated Conferences, Particular Councils (where no Central Council exists) and Central Councils should complete the Request for Pass Down Funds when funds have been depleted and are in need of financial assistance to continue helping people in need.

Richard Pommainville, Executive Director, National Council of Canada has been in discussion with the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and with Food Banks Canada regarding the federal funding that was announced earlier in April to be largely delivered through Food Banks Canada, Salvation Army, Second Harvest, Community Food Centres Canada, and Breakfast Club of Canada.

As a result of his discussions, he has learned that some SSVP food banks are a member of the provincial association of Food Banks Canada and any request submitted by these SSVP food banks for funding to the provincial association will be recognized to receive funding. For SSVP food banks not registered with Food Banks Canada or Conferences doing home visits, and there are no other member food banks in the local community, the Society’s food bank and/or Conference would be considered for funding. In this case, you need to complete the application https://forms.gle/9ewBZGv5zzgQvYKW7 to be considered for funding, and you should apply as soon as possible. Contact Feed Ontario, Tel: 416-656-4100, for more information.

Food Banks Canada are keeping track of funding requests and the outcome. If any requests to the provincial associations of Food Banks Canada were rejected, please email linda@ssvp.on.ca and advise on the reason for rejection, so this information can be relayed to Food Banks Canada.

FoodRescue.ca is a program that connects businesses with good, unsold food to donate to local not for profit organizations. Some SSVP Conferences/Councils in Toronto, Peterborough, Bowmanville and Goderich are already signed up with FoodRescue.ca. Any SSVP Council or Conference can sign up for this free account if interested. You must have a CRA number to be eligible to sign up.

I have heard about partnerships created with the Knights of Columbus in communities where the K of C are assisting with financial donations and/or providing members to help SSVP serve our friends in need.

We encourage Councils and Conferences to have electronic meetings to stay connected and continue carrying on business. You can leverage collaborative tools to do this such as Webex, GoToMeeting, Hangouts Meets, Zoom, etc. The National Council of Canada uses Microsoft TEAMS, which is the evolution of Microsoft Skype Enterprise. Since the fall of 2019, National Council along with several regional councils, central councils and particular councils are taking advantage of the capabilities available under the National Council TEAMS infrastructure. Should your Council or Conference be interested in taking advantage of using this collaborative tool to assist in the work you do, please identify one or two main contacts in your Council/Conference who would organize your meetings and provide their name, position and email address to Josée at national@ssvp.ca who can set you up. Note that not everyone needs an account to be able to access TEAMS since most people would only access as a guest. Josee will share videos created to help you navigate the Microsoft TEAMS application.

Please email your good news stories to linda@ssvp.on.ca so these stories can be shared with members across the province. Check out these good news stories happening in Kingston and Carbonear, Newfoundland.

https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/neighbour-to-neighbour-st-vincent-de-paul-connecting-kingston-by-phone-1.4892182

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/food-banks-carbonear-kerri-abbott-1.5534054?__vfz=medium%3Dsharebar

Thank you for all the amazing work you are doing to continue serving our friends in need while taking all necessary precautions.

Linda Dollard
President