Niverville Helping Hands (NHH) has been providing food hampers to families in need for more than 30 years. As the need for their services has increased, so has their need for space. As of this August, NHH will be moving to 101-106 Main Street in Niverville.
Larissa Sandulak, a volunteer at Helping Hands since May 2020, began serving in the role of board chairperson in January. She says that the need for their services is booming.
“Over the past three years, we’ve seen a significant rise in hamper applications,” Sandulak says. “Throughout 2020 and 2021, we were serving 18 to 25 families twice a month. In 2022, that number increased to approximately 35 to 38 families. As of March 2023, we are now serving just under 50 households twice a month, the majority of these being large families.”
In the past six months, NHH has consistently received between three and five new family hamper applications per month.
“And considering the current economic climate and forecast, as well as seasonal layoffs come fall, we are expecting these numbers to continue to increase.”
Currently Helping Hands operates in much the same way they have since the beginning. Families can apply by phone or online to request a food hamper and pick it up between 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Thursday of each month. A few hours before each biweekly pickup, a small crew of volunteers arrives to pack the hampers.
Sandulak explains that although this model has worked well in the past, it no longer serves the needs of the volunteers or patrons the way it should.
First, there is the issue of space.
“With [so many] hampers now being requested, our current pantry space where we pack and hand out hampers has become too small,” she says. “There is not enough room to work with a team, and the pantry shelving doesn’t hold the quantity of food needed for 48 hampers, and so we were also having to restock while packing. This adds to the already increased time and energy needed to pack this many hampers.”
Adding to the lack of space is the fact that they don’t have a storage room large enough to hold the amount of food needed. As NHH currently operates out of a basement, the area must be accessed by descending a flight of stairs, creating accessibility issues for both clients and volunteers.
Sandulak points out that there is an even greater concern for her and her team: a loss of connection with their patrons.
“At Niverville Helping Hands, we seek to not only fulfill a tangible need—food—but to also offer support, encouragement, and build relationships with our patrons,” says Sandulak. “Many of our clients are hungry for connection. They tend to linger and visit, if given the chance. Due to the influx of hamper registrations, and the cramped space to pick up their hampers, we have noticed that we are not able to spend time connecting with our patrons as we’ve previously done before. We are limited to handing off food and shuffling the crowd along and out the door.”
Recognizing all of this, the board has decided that the time has come to move to a larger space. It’s also time to offer a new model of help, allowing them to operate a bit more like a traditional grocery store.
Clients will still call or apply online, but now they will choose a shopping time slot that suits their schedule. These time slots will be spread across new extended hours, eliminating the chaos of serving everyone in an hour. It will also allow a greater opportunity for volunteers to connect with the clients.
This shopping model also benefits the clients in that they can pick and choose the items that best suit their families.
“One of the reasons we are going this new direction is because we were having clients sending in very specific requests for what we packed for them,” she says. “And we get it. Every family has different needs and preferences. So rather than customizing every hamper, we decided to put the client in the driver’s seat and let them pack their own hampers. Once clients have finished shopping, they will ‘check out,’ at which time we will verify that they honoured our limits.”
The only criteria to apply for a hamper with NHH is that the client must reside in Niverville, New Bothwell, Otterburne, or Ste. Agathe. Helping Hands will also provide emergency hampers when needed.
“Throughout the visits we have with clients, we’ve come to realize that they need more support, especially support that doesn’t require driving to Winnipeg or Steinbach,” she adds. “Our new location is the first step in pursuing this organization to grow beyond food, and to offer other services such as employment resources and computer stations, a shuttle service for medical appointments, counselling, and things of that nature. We anticipate this vision taking multiple years to grow, and it will likely include interim steps, but we’re excited to see what the future holds.”
Niverville Helping Hands is entirely supported by donations, both in finances and food. Financial donations over $20 are accompanied by a tax receipt issued in February of the following year. Nonperishable food can be left at the donation bin at Your Grocery People (formerly Niverville Bigway) or dropped off at NHH if a time is prearranged.
