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Sharing Place donation sparks wave of support from Kiwanis members

Club donated $2,500 and its members have topped that up to almost $6,000 and counting; 'It’s great to see people in Orillia pulling together,' says official
2020-03-26 Sharing Place Kiwanis donation
Chris Peacock, executive director of The Sharing Place Food Centre, accepts a cheque from Korine Keyzer, president of the Kiwanis Club of Orillia, while practising social distancing. Supplied photo

A simple inquiry about how a local service club could help The Sharing Place Food Centre has turned into a wave of support that’s still going strong.

Kiwanis Club of Orillia president Korine Keyzer asked Sharing Place executive director Chris Peacock how her group could assist the local organization. Money is the greatest need, and Kiwanians answered the call.

After making a donation of $2,500 on behalf of the club, Keyzer challenged members to make individual contributions, too. As of late Thursday afternoon, almost $6,000 had been donated, and that number continues to increase.

“I’m feeling so helpless. All of us with Kiwanis are doers and we wanted to know what we could do,” Keyzer said.

Seeing the response from individual club members has been “awesome and heartwarming,” she said, noting the importance of supporting the agency during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Our fear is that it’s going to get a lot worse for people and we know food insecurity is a big thing,” she said. “I’m glad we’re able to help. We’ll help wherever we can.”

While Peacock knows how generous the community and service clubs are, he said he was “not expecting that response,” referring to the amount of money raised in such a short period of time.

“It was really cool how quickly it happened.”

Due to the rapidly changing nature of COVID-19, it’s difficult to plan ahead, so the money is particularly appreciated, Peacock said.

“We don’t know how busy we are going to get and we don’t know how much this new model of distribution is going to cost us,” he said, referring to The Sharing Place’s recent decision to deliver food hampers to people in need. “When you get that kind of support from Kiwanis, it gives us some breathing room.”

The new way of distributing food has been “going well” so far, he said.

“It’s early days, and every day we learn how to improve it. From an efficiency standpoint, it’s going well so far,” he said. “We’ve been receiving a lot of phone calls from people looking to receive support.”

Peacock thanked volunteers, donors and everyone else who is continuing to work during the pandemic.

“It’s great to see people in Orillia pulling together, and I think we’re going to come out of this stronger in the end.”

Current Sharing Place members who need food can contact the organization between 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., Monday to Thursday, at 705-327-4273. New members must register at The Sharing Place, at 95 Dufferin St. They are asked to bring government-issued ID for everyone in their household.

To minimize transfer of COVID-19, registration is happening outside.

To donate online to The Sharing Place, click here.


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Nathan Taylor

About the Author: Nathan Taylor

Nathan Taylor is the desk editor for Village Media's central Ontario news desk in Simcoe County and Newmarket.
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