COVID-19 ALSO BRINGS A WAVE OF GENEROSITY AND KINDNESS

by Johanna L. Hernandez Pinzon and Jasmine Gill

Communities in Toronto are coming forward to help others.

SANDRA LOZANO

Sandra Lozano, a family lawyer from El Salvador, has helped the Latin community through a Facebook group named "JUST TAKE IT - IT'S FREE ONTARIO" with 24,121 members.

Being a Latino, Lozano has strong ties with the community. She says it is her responsibility to help the Latino community. She has been helping people since 2017, but during the Covid-19 outbreak, many people are struggling.

Lozano has helped the Latin community by listening to their problems, delivering medications, giving food, and doing anything to provide help or show love to the other. She has been providing food and other necessities to those in need. Lozano is also giving away her belongings to people who need them.

"This is a community full of love, where everyone wants to help each other. Something really special is that nowadays you can find this group around other neighbourhoods, the motive of this initiative is to help the one in need", Sandra Lozano.

It appears it’s a smaller number of Latinos who own businesses in Canada, but they are big contributors to the labour workforce, and due to the pandemic, many of them lost their jobs.

  Source: Statistics Canada  Created with Datawrapper

Food banks are also stepping up to help the community.

Jagger Gordon

‘Feed it Forward’ is one of Toronto's organizations making sure that no one sleeps with an empty stomach. Chef Jagger Gordon says the mission is to make a difference.

Many people are volunteering to help the community through different organizations. ‘Feed it Forward’  has been providing meals to people, and not only that, the volunteers are helping vulnerable people to get medical appointments, find mental health support and more. The food bank has been helping people from different communities in Toronto.

‘Sewa Food Bank’ is another organization that aids residents living in the Mississauga area going through food insecurity, financial insecurity, and inaccessibility to necessary services. The food bank is helping the Indian community living abroad specifically, So, that the community knows someone is there to help throughout the pandemic.

Rasheeda Qureshi, the Sewa Food Bank Executive Director, says, "The food Bank's ultimate goal is to ensure that we serve everybody who needs food."

There are currently 130 food banks operating in Ontario; combined, they feed 522,000 people a year, with a concentrated portion of Peel and the Greater Toronto Area.

 By Jasmine Gill and Johanna Hernandez  Source: Statistics Canada - Created with Datawrapper

In 2014, Peel's region reported 1 out of 10 households face food insecurity and are dependent on organizations like food banks for necessities. Covid-19 has led to shortages of volunteers and reduced levels of donations, forcing many services across the country to shut down.

As Canada's government is taking initiatives to stop the spread of COVID-19, Many people in Toronto are also coming forward, taking matters into their own hands by offering their neighbours and community support.

Toronto is known as a multicultural city with more than 140 languages in the city.

Covid-19 has created a problem for many communities; however, the pandemic has developed friendships and strong bonds between neighbourhoods, Toronto. The community is creating many ways to help each other.

The pandemic has affected people not only financially but mentally as well. However, in Toronto, many organizations, individuals, and the government are coming forward to help those in need-to-have necessities.

The City of Toronto has started a donation portal to bring in products, services and funds to support the population struggling during the pandemic.

If you want to help the community, join the volunteer team in Toronto and GTA area (York, Peel, Durham) to do your part to help the city overpower this pandemic.

 

Tune in to know more about how people in Toronto are coming along to help each other get through the pandemic.

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