In the era of social distancing and self-isolation, Romero House is having to adjust its practices to serve the many still in need of a warm meal.
The local soup kitchen’s eat-in area has now been closed for over a week, and they’ve had to stop accepting in-house help from their 120 rotating volunteers.
The eight remaining on-hand staff and volunteers are now having to serve their clientele through a window.
“When we announced we were going to take-out, I could see the fear in people’s eyes,” said Evelyn McNulty, Romero House’s Executive Director.
But she says the soup kitchen, which has operated in Saint John for 38 years, is in it for the long haul.
“It’s very labour-intensive at the moment, but we have an amazing group of volunteers, and an amazing community,” McNulty said.
Volunteers have been calling in to see how they can help from home while they remain unable to enter the soup kitchen.
“A lot of (volunteers), this is part of their life and they miss being here,” McNulty said. “The people on both sides of the counter are missing each other.”
In order to help its clientele self-isolate, the soup kitchen is aiming to supply as much food as possible when people come to the window.
In addition to food, Romero House is continuing to try to make sanitary supplies available, especially at a time when self-hygiene is so important.
“We’re going to make little packages, and start passing those out the window as well,” McNulty said. “Like comfort things they would normally get inside the building that they’re not getting right now.”
With Premier Blaine Higgs’ estimate of up to 30,000 New Brunswickers being laid off as a result of the pandemic, McNulty says she has seen some new faces in line.
“The volume right now is not the problem, getting it out the window is the problem,” she said. “It’s a change in our routine, a change in being take-out, having everything individually wrapped, getting take-out containers.”
Despite not being able to welcome volunteers into the kitchen, food donations remain a huge priority in order to keep the city’s vulnerable population healthy. The soup kitchen estimates it will likely hand out 1,000 sandwiches this weekend.
McNulty says people can call Romero House to see what they can do to help. The soup kitchen can be reached at 506-642-7447.
