TORONTO -- When the direction to stay home began in Toronto, Carolyn Quigley immediately thought about the people in her city who have no home to go to.
“For a lot of people on the streets, nothing has changed,” Quigley tells CTV News Toronto. “[The virus] does affect them in the worst way, but their day-to-day living they’re still living on their wits end.”
Quigley, who regularly fundraises for The Good Shepherd, reached out to see if she could help those experiencing homelessness during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I had been talking to the shelter a bit, over the last couple of weeks, and it became really apparent that they need help,” she said. “They had to close their kitchen, and instead of providing close to 200 hot meals a day, they’re up to about a 1,000 plus bagged lunches a day. So it’s a bit of a crisis down there.”
From there, Quigley rallied her friends and started up a twice-a-week sandwich-making night. She and her friends make the sandwiches together on a video call, and they are collected and delivered to the shelter.
“It’s been wonderful,” Quigley says. “A couple of the sandwich makers, they were just so down in the dumps - being cut off from their jobs, cut off from family, isolated at home. So we’re trying to get people in these times of isolation together.”
And the other volunteers have been enjoying the experience, too.
“Hi everyone! Happy to be part of the team,” says one of them during their virtual sandwich-making session.
“I’m so happy to be a part of this with all these wonderful ladies!” adds another.
Once the sandwiches have been made, Quigley arranges for pick-up and delivery to the Good Shepherd.
“We’re trying to keep as little contact as possible,” says Quigley. “I don’t want seven people going to the shelter. I don’t want seven people going to the grocery store. You have to contain it.”
The ‘Sandwich sisters’ have received the fixings for the sandwiches from local grocery stores, and people they know have been offering monetary help.
“We are getting donations from everywhere, from money to lunch equipment, says Quigley. “People who either can’t do it, because they’re still working or they’re compromised, are still sending us cash donations. It’s amazing.”
Quigley says the Good Shepherd is close to her heart, but she hopes to see more ‘sandwich sister’ pods pop up in other cities and for more organizations.
“The worst of times, we forget about those in need. We start to go introspectively into ourselves – I need to get toilet paper, I need to get coffee,” she says. “This is where you see the best of people. And there is always a need.”
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