Loretto College and Abrigo Joining Forces to Combat Food Insecurity
Abrigo’s dedicated team of counsellors are stretched to their limits to ensure the basic instrumental needs of clients are met
By: Gerald Luciano, Manager Fundraising and Communications and Teresa Emmanuel, Youth Outreach Counsellor | June 27, 2024
Never before have Abrigo counsellors dealt with the complexity of issues many clients are presenting to our agency today. At the top of that list is food insecurity. Add in the wide-spread housing crisis, limited financial resources for many, mental health issues for others, and Abrigo’s dedicated team of counsellors are stretched to their limits to ensure the basic instrumental needs of clients are met.
Whether it’s an isolated newcomer, the homeless man, or the single mother with two young children fighting desperately to make ends meet, far too many individuals and families, especially seniors on a fixed income, must make the difficult decision each month between buying food or paying their rent. And unfortunately, when they turn to Abrigo for assistance, the agency simply does not have the financial resources to give everyone a grocery store gift card that will help prepare a nutritious meal or two.
“ Healthy You, Healthy Me Program”
That is why a recent food drive by the students of Loretto College School was so impactful for Abrigo clients. Located just steps away from Abrigo at Dufferin Street and Rosemount Avenue, students in Loretto’s Healthy You, Healthy Me program walked over dozens of bags of groceries and health care products, twice, to assist the many clients who regularly face the challenge of not having enough food in their home.
For more than 15 years Abrigo Youth Outreach Counsellor Teresa Emmanuel has been facilitating workshops at Loretto on subjects such as healthy and unhealthy relationships, social media, leadership building and empowering young women. That relationship built a significant amount of trust over time and when it was mentioned that many Abrigo clients were facing food insecurity issues, the students themselves took the initiative to look for a meaningful way to positively impact Abrigo clients.
Under the guidance of Ms. Paulina Onilla, a Child and Youth Worker at Loretto, Ms. Emmanuel, and Ms. Mary DeNisco, school Chaplain, who wrote a letter to parents soliciting support, students in each homeroom were asked to collect canned and dry food items like pasta and beans. Competitions were set up between grades to see who could secure the most amount of food and winning homerooms awarded pizza lunches.
The response was overwhelming. Beyond the vast donation of food, additional items such as soap, toiletries and dental care products were also donated by local businesses like Fiesta Foods and Shoppers Drug Mart. The overall response from Loretto parents, families and the community at large were incredible.
A Hope for a Better Future
Many of Abrigo clients view the agency as their only hope for a better future. Women and men of all ages dealing with language or immigration issues, or those that currently or have faced severe trauma and abuse often see Abrigo as a safe haven. It’s a place where the unseen and unheard are acknowledged and listened to. Where trust can be built and earned over a single session, or a few weeks or months of ongoing service. It’s a place where people feel welcomed and respected.
Donations from Loretto College made a Huge Difference
The last year has been a particularly difficult time for many Abrigo clients. However, donations like this from Loretto College make a huge difference. So as the month of May ended, and the young women in Grades 9 through 12 in Loretto’s Healthy You, Healthy Me program made the trek to Abrigo, each step they took brought an individual or family closer to having some semblance of peace of mind, if only for a day or two.
Community support is the key to Abrigo’s success and none of this great work would be possible without the assistance of dedicated people like the students, teachers and administrators of Loretto College. We thank them for their generous and ongoing philanthropy.
Gerald Luciano has been the Abrigo Centre’s Manager of Fundraising and Communications for eight years. He has an extensive background in both specialties in the healthcare and social service sectors.
Teresa Emmanuel is Abrigo’s Youth Outreach Counsellor and for many years has developed workshops on issues facing young people for both Toronto school boards. She is also a registered Social Worker, with a Master’s degree from York University, and for two decades has worked with families in distress.
———–
