Editor's note: This marks the first entry in what we hope will become a regular and beloved feature in MidlandToday.
Our community is filled with hundreds of volunteers who help make this a special place to live. We want to shine a light on the lesser-known volunteers and tell their stories.
If you have an idea for someone who might make a good profile, please send an email to [email protected]. Thanks and we hope you enjoy this new series.
While empathy might not define us alone as a species, at seven billion people it has perhaps become our collective crowning trait. The ability for a person — any person — to see someone they don’t know and yet give that other a helping hand of support, it is this aspect of humanity which allows us to shine as our best quality.
Such is the case with Sue McIntosh and Rich Dal Bello, two prominent volunteers with the Community Food Bank of the Salvation Army in Midland.
“We’re here to help you help yourself,” explains Dal Bello. “And we’re not judging anybody; this is strictly a service to help you…”
"…over a rough patch…” adds McIntosh.
“…and to keep going,” concludes Dal Bello.
Sharing each other’s sentences aren’t the only thing the 62-year-old pair of McIntosh and Dal Bello do together. Having met in 2009, Barrie’s Dal Bello took to Penetang’s McIntosh like spring birds and two years later they began their intertwined lives arm-in-arm after settling down permanently in Penetanguishene.
Dal Bello explains, “We wanted to give back to the community because that’s how we are. We had enough free time to do the things we wanted to do, but we also had extra time and wanted to make sure we would do something that would help the community in some way.”
The couple are retirees: McIntosh was a cook at Georgian Bay General Hospital until 2016, while Dal Bello was a military logistician until his retirement years ago.
“For me,” says McIntosh, “putting food in people’s bellies is just important. People can’t go hungry. It’s just not right, not in this day and age.”
“For me,” adds Dal Bello, “it was always that you’ve got to look after the troops. You’ve got to look after and help your community in any way you can. Being a logistician… supply, transport, depots, food storage: all of that was laid into the reasoning behind getting in with the Food Bank.”
According to the 2020 Hunger Report issued by Feed Ontario, more than 537,000 people accessed food banks across Ontario between April 2019 through March 2020, with an additional 26% increase in first-time visitors once the COVID-19 pandemic arrived. Food banks across the province adapted operations to meet the demand while maintaining health protocols.
Kim Duquette is director of the Family Services department with the Midland Salvation Army.
“Under normal circumstances,” states Duquette via email, “our food bank requires at least 8-10 volunteers during open hours to operate efficiently. In addition, there is a lot of work during off hours… done by volunteers as well.
“Due to COVID, our daily operations have changed and so has our volunteer base. We are required to limit the amount of people entering our building; many of our volunteers fall into the vulnerable sector and we asked them to stay home during the height of the pandemic; and some of our volunteers are still nervous about returning to the food bank: for these reasons we have adjusted some of our staff duties and assigned one more staff member to assist with food bank operations; we have been reduced to a skeleton volunteer crew of four.”
On a chilly morning in March, McIntosh and Dal Bello greeted several community residents who lined up in the respectfully distanced queue of the Salvation Army parking lot.
After a brief conversation with the crowd, the pair ventured inside the building to grab bags and boxes of pre-packaged supplies for a recipient, with Dal Bello only stepping down two of the entrance stairs before handing the items with outstretched arms. McIntosh, meanwhile, walked back and forth with more goods to hand to Dal Bello for the exchange. Safety was of the utmost priority.
Dal Bello relates a story regarding one recipient who arrived at the community food bank but felt unable to take advantage of what there was to offer.
“I told (them), it’s not a sign of weakness or that you’re a bad person or that you’ve done anything wrong," he says. "We just run into these little spots sometimes, and (the Food Bank is) just here to help smooth that little patch over for you and keep you and your family going.
“We run into people like that who almost feel embarrassed, but we try and tell them: It’s not your fault.”
Walk-in selections are not currently permitted due to health protocols; clients wanting to accept the food bank’s generosity need to undergo an interview process to gauge how best they can be serviced before receiving the pre-packaged items suited to their needs.
McIntosh and Dal Bello are a living reminder that there are good people in this world, putting the community’s well-being to the forefront of importance, providing nourishment of food and smiles for those lacking in either.
For further information on the food bank or to call for an appointment regarding its services, contact Kim Duquette at (705) 526-2751.
