BUFFALO, N.Y. — A week before St. Patrick's Day, Sister Johnice had a meeting with the staff at The Response to Love Center. The purpose of the meeting was to come up with a plan to keep operating while keeping volunteers and the people who relied on their services safe.
The following week, as businesses shut down as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic, Sister Johnice says she saw a sharp increase in the need for the center's services, particularly meals.
Sister Johnice tells 2 On Your Side, in order to keep feeding the community, her staff erected a tent in the parking lot and began handing out pre-packed meals for people to take on the go. The Response to Love Center also scaled down the number of volunteers it needed in order to follow public health guidelines.
This formula is one Sister Johnice says will be applied to their annual Thanksgiving meal. Normally, hundreds of people would make their way into the dining hall for a hot meal.
"Obviously we can't do that because of social distancing," she said.
The plan is currently to erect a bigger tent in the parking lot and set up tables where people can quickly walk through and receive pre-packaged meals and a few extras for the holiday.
"We bought special containers so they could have the regular Thanksgiving meal, as much as they want. They’re even getting extra surprises with their meal to make it a festive day for them. So what we’re asking people to do instead of the regular roasting of turkey we used to do because we’re limited, we’re starting to roast turkey breasts", she told 2 On Your Side's Karys Belger.
The Response to Love Center isn't the only organization altering it's Thanksgiving plans. The Buffalo City Mission is also making some changes. Aubrey Calhoun, the associate executive director, explained her staff is anticipating the need for more meals, especially because of the increase in people who have reached out for help.
For Thanksgiving, the mission is splitting up food distribution to make sure volunteers can stay six feet apart. There will be two locations and systems in place to make sure food can be loaded into cars without contact.
"We’ll have all of the meal bags packed ahead of time through staff and a really really small group of volunteers who will be split up into different areas so they can mountain social distancing and have everyone still have their health checks and still have their masks on while they’re here," Calhoun told 2 On Your Side.
In addition to food donations, Sister Johnice says the community can still help with monetary donations to help supplement the additional meals she anticipates they'll need to feed the increase in people.
Calhoun told 2 On Your Side there are still a small number of volunteer positions. There are also opportunities to donate to help buy winter necessities for people who rely on the Buffalo City Mission's services.