The local sheriff’s office and court staff served up 58 freshly cooked meals and a $3,300 cash donation to the Better at Home Program which is facilitated by the Prince Rupert Seniors Centre. The program is to assist senior citizens with the help they need to remain living independently in their own homes.
Mike Ringer, staff sergeant at the Sheriff’s Office, said he was looking for someway he could contribute to the community during COVID-19. His mom, Nancy Ringer is on the board of directors at the PRSC, and suggested that he make a personal donation to the centre.
“I thought I could do a little better than that, so I started reaching out to people at work and I ended up with Christina Le (court services clerk) She’s helping me out with this,” Ringer said. “We decided to put it out on social media, and it kind of went a little viral from there.”
“We went from thinking I could raise a couple hundred dollars to now we’re at $3,300,” Ringer said.
“It’s great! To be honest, I was looking for an opportunity with all the struggles that people are going through with the Covid situation in Prince Rupert, and I’ve been looking for an opportunity to help out.
Ringer is over-joyed with the response. He has had many local residents contribute donations as well as people as far away as Nova Scotia have participated with help, plus a local restaurant donated fully prepared meals.
It was a family effort to prepare the almost 60 nutritious meals which took several hours and most of the day on April 18 by Number One Catering Restaurant, Linh Chan owner said. She owns the restaurant with her husband Nick Chan and their children assist. When the meals were finished being prepared they called on the sheriff to come collect and serve.
READ MORE: Prince Rupert seniors are often not able to purchase groceries
The roast dinners were a variety of turkey, chicken, beef, with vegetables, mashed potatoes and a dessert. Number One has more than 15 years experience catering meals for seniors citizens as they previously cooked for another seniors program.
“There is a lot of need. This was a community opportunity. We want to help out where we can,” Linh Chan said.
Sheila McDonald, co-ordinator of the Better at Home Program said during these times of lock down for the virus, they are trying to help the clients as much as they can and the meals are greatly appreciated by the seniors centre and especially the clients.
“They’re at home and have some difficulty often getting to the grocery store. They have some mobility issues and are sometimes low on funds in-between pension cheques or other cheques that come in,” McDonald said, “So, we’ve started a program where we have been providing some frozen soups and baked goods to the clients.”
“As you’ve seen from the meals, that’s sparked some of the local corporate clients,” Ringer said, ” with Number One donating the 58 or so meals that we brought in today.”
He hopes it’s caught the attention of some other corporate entities that may reach out to the Seniors Centre directly to see if they can help.
“It’s great! …This just kind of landed in my lap. I figured we could help a little and now I feel like we’ve helped out a lot more than I thought we would,” Ringer said.
READ MORE: Moose donation allows for new stove at Prince Rupert Seniors Centre
This feel-good story is part of the #WereInThisTogether campaign by Black Press Media. Have an uplifting story that you think would bring joy to readers? Email your story, photos and video to wereinthistogether@blackpress.ca
K-J Millar | Journalist
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