For The Love of Giving – Kaya & Gloria in Kenora

Kaya is a young mother of two, a full-time student and working part-time in Kenora, Ontario. Supporting her family on a part-time income while trying to focus on her studies was difficult.

“It was hard to make ends meet, grocery wise and my kids’ needs,” Kaya explains.

Kaya’s mother-in-law Gloria is a former client of The Salvation Army Community and Family Service and got a job working in the Thrift Store.

“She mentioned the food bank to me, and I got a lot of clothing from her, too, because she said, ‘you should just come by the Thrift Store and see what you would like.’ There’s a lot of good baby clothes and clothes for myself too. So I came in, and I really liked it. And the food bank helped a lot,” says Kaya.

Kaya says that the Christmas hampers from The Salvation Army really make a difference at a difficult and expensive time of year. She remembers a year that was particularly tough, and she had to make hard choices about food or presents. The next year, she learned about the hamper program, and it revived her Christmas spirit.

“The Christmas hamper is great and really helps a lot. They provide a meat voucher; you can get Turkey or any kind of meat that you want, ham. Around that time, a lot of people don’t have a lot of money to get stuff for the kids. We get a bunch of toys donated, and we, the parents, get to go to the legion and get to pick out toys for the ages of children that you have.”

Gloria is now a supervisor at the Kenora Thrift Store, and Kaya works there as a cashier while completing her studies. They are both eager to share the resources of The Salvation Army.

“There’s a lot of customers too, that still don’t know about the food bank, and they’re like, ‘oh, I can get help like that?’ You can! You just go see Sandra. She takes care of all the intakes, and she’s really good at helping people,” says Kaya.

“I think Salvation Army is pretty important because it helps a lot of people. Not just people on the street but people who are low-income as well. They’re there for you. They listen. It’s a pump-up. It helps people, so they don’t feel stranded or alone. Salvation Army’s always there to help under any circumstance,” Kaya says.

The Salvation Army in Kenora operates a Thrift Store and Community and Family Services, including a food bank. They also support school feeding and backpack programs. Last year the Kenora Thrift store assisted 270 people with clothing and household items. Between January and the end of November, 191 households and 393 people were assisted with groceries. There has been a significant increase in people visiting the food bank since they introduced a supermarket model in June.

For Christmas 2022, 257 households turned to The Salvation Army in Kenora for assistance, and they were able to help 629 individuals, of which 192 were children aged 0 – 14 years.

“This year, the need continues to increase. Last month we assisted 69 individual households (145 people) with 98 visits to our Food Bank. Without your continued support, we wouldn’t be able to offer these services. They are your donations at work for our community, and we are so thankful to each and every one of you,” says Sandra Poole director of Community and Family Services.

You can help support the work of The Salvation Army in Kenora by following this link: Transform Lives Today! (salvationarmy.ca)