Skip to content

Clients of Riverside Mission adapt to changes with meal program

'Personally, it’s lonely because you can’t go to a coffee shop or spend time with friends because you have to social distance,' said Rick Corbeil, a client of Riverside Mission
Riverside clients 1a
Robert Andersen waits in line in front of Riverside Mission before entering to grab his hot to-go supper and a loaf of bread or bag of buns. The organization has changed how it feeds residents to ensure they and mission staff remain healthy and safe. Photo by Jason G. Antonio

Changes that the pandemic has forced on society — such as physical distancing — are tough on many people, but perhaps none more so than on impoverished residents in the community.

Clients of Riverside Mission would normally be welcomed inside with open arms to eat lunch and supper. However, due to physical distancing requirements and the limited number of people in a room, lunch has been eliminated. Meanwhile, supper runs from 4 to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday and users must line up outside before entering individually to grab a container with the evening’s meal, a loaf of bread or bag of buns, and other goodies.

Resident Robert Andersen and his sister Peggy were the first people lined up at the door — two metres away from each other and others — to receive their supper on April 7. Similar to almost everyone else, Robert noted the coronavirus had affected him financially. He had been attempting to engage in self-employment by selling walking sticks but had to put that on hold.

He acknowledged that the changes made to Riverside Mission’s lunch and supper programs were for the best, especially the owners and staff.

“It’s pretty frustrating, but there’s nothing they can do,” he said.

Andersen added that even though the mission no longer offers lunches, other community non-profit organizations do, so he has been able to survive.

Fellow Riverside Mission user Rick Corbeil has also been getting by during the past few weeks. However, the pandemic has been a major setback for him in many ways, such as finding a job as a trucker.

“Personally, it’s lonely because you can’t go to a coffee shop or spend time with friends because you have to social distance,” he said. “But I think Moose Jaw is doing well. (Riverside Mission is) taking good care of us here. They’re organized and good people.”

The fact Corbeil can’t go inside to sit down to eat has saddened and depressed him. He sometimes managed to acquire a job contact through table conversations, while he enjoyed talking with his friends, learning how they were doing, and cheering them up.

“Even here, this is kind of a meeting place — sorta,” he said about the outside lineup. “But we gotta keep our distance because they said they would shut it down if we got too close. We’re all friends here (though). It’s a way to get together at a distance.”

Riverside Mission usually has an extravagant sit-down meal at Easter, but that won’t happen this year. Instead, the Easter meal on Friday, April 10 will take place from 3 to 5 p.m. and will follow the same format as the suppers: users will line up outside and then pick up their container.

“We’ve done all of (those changes) with social distancing in mind,” Joe Miller, executive director with Soul’s Harbour Rescue Mission, told the Express. “Things are a little slower this way, but we're still serving the public.”

The kitchen has also ceased all volunteer activity, save for a small number of dedicated people who take precautions at home to make them eligible to work there. The organization is no longer taking donations of leftover food or clothing items for the time being, either.

It has also limited the capacity of its men’s emergency shelter, to four individuals from 10, to properly practise physical distancing.

“I just want people to know that Riverside Mission’s doors are still open,” added Miller. “We serve society’s most vulnerable people. A lot of them have health conditions or immune deficiencies, (so) we want to take care of them as best we could.”

push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks