Bethel Place Food Pantry
Bethel Place Food Pantry is a safe place for in-need community members to access free food within the Alberta Ave area. With the barriers put up for families to access food through the schools and the deepening of the COVID pandemics impact on the most vulnerable, as a collective, our goal has been to ensure dignity and access to food. Since its opening in October 2020, the pantry has served about 4500 people and their families, with an average of 95 people in 2 hours! Personally, I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to be involved in this initiative.
I have earned a lot of respect for the volunteers, community members and colleagues. The volunteers have been some of the most committed and involved people and have been the backbone of this initiative. Through the lockdown and COVID restrictions, they have given their time to respond to the food insecurity needs in the Alberta Avenue/Norwood area that have been deepened by the pandemic. Working with such a group makes me grateful and optimistic about living in Edmonton. I don't think I can fully explain how heartwarming it is, every monday, to see the same group of volunteers show up. They are so involved that they have used their connections to provide items such as hygiene products, bread, baked goods etc for the pantry.
The community members have also been a joy to interact with. From makeshift concerts as people wait to recipes being shared, pantry days are like a social event (of course within the bounds of all the restrictions). Although we see new faces weekly, there are some people who attend the pantry every Monday and throughout the months, we have become quite familiar with each other. This initiative embodies the concept of collective holding. Community members have also contributed greatly to the pantry. In fact, one of our members put us in touch with a clothing store in Edmonton that donates clothing to the pantry! Also, if we ever need an extra hand at the pantry, unloading the food truck etc, they are willing!
The partnerships with Bethel Gospel Chapel, Arts on the Ave, Neighbourhood Empowerment Team, Primary Healthcare Network, and Edmonton Police Service, have been so productive! I particularly enjoy the partnership with EPS as, from what I have seen, it has been a great relationship building initiative with the service and community members. We have on site a mix of religious leaders, healthcare workers, community advocates and social workers - all respectful of each other and working towards the same community initiative!
The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights “affirms that the right to food is indivisibly linked to the inherent dignity of the human person and is indispensable for the fulfilment of other human rights enshrined in the International Bill of Human Rights. It is also inseparable from social justice, requiring the adoption of appropriate economic, environmental and social policies, at both the national and international levels, oriented to the eradication of poverty and the fulfilment of all human rights for all.”