City of Windsor350 City Hall Square W.
P.O. Box 1607
Windsor, ON N9A 6S1
Dear Mayor Dilkens,
As we head into the Thanksgiving weekend, even in the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, there is so much to be grateful for in Windsor-Essex. Many corporations, non-profits, small businesses and individuals have come together and continued to cooperate in a shared goal of navigating through our new normal together. This collective work has helped to ensure we stay on track toward the ultimate goal of keeping all local residents safe. We witness every day through our drive through food bank hubs how great the need is today and we do anticipate this will change any time soon. Today a 1,000 turkeys were distributed that were donated by CUPE Local 543 to families, so they could enjoy a dinner and still celebrate Thanksgiving Day!
On a day-to-day basis, I continue to witness firsthand how these partnerships have aided the most vulnerable segments of our community. As the pandemic evolves and we prepare for a possible second wave, the fact still remains that many in our community remain hungry and are struggling to put food on their tables. As the winter months inch closer, these people will need continued access to a no contact drive-through food hub. Our satellite drive-through hub in the west end of the city, located at Adie Knox Herman Recreation Complex, must endure through to the end of the year in order to properly serve those in need. We have enough food to last a year.
I am so grateful for your collaboration and partnership on so many levels throughout the past seven months and once again I hope I can count on your cooperation, along with that of city council, to offer this solution as we continue providing food support in the core of one of Windsor’s most impoverished neighbourhoods. Not only is our use of Adie Knox imperative to the distribution of emergency food assistance, it is an absolute necessity to maintain the access we have been granted to the arena space for food storage and hamper assembly. Without the use of the arena pad, we would not have adequate food storage and would be without an assembly space as UHC and member food banks of the Windsor Essex Food Bank Association continue to see usage of our food bank services rise. Over 75,000 individuals and families in our local area have received food assistance since the pandemic was declared March 16. These friends and neighbours cannot be abandoned. If we lose this set up we will have to serve families and individuals by appointment which would drastically reduce the number of people we would be able to serve. Many individuals and families would go hungry as we could not keep up with the demand.
I realize that as we learn more about the strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19, that more businesses and recreation complexes will be resuming operations as people use the recommendations of public health agencies to foray into public life in the safest way possible. However, there are still many things that are not understood about this virus which makes it difficult to resume any type of normalcy as we know it. Until there is a declaration that the pandemic has ended, it is critical to continue operating a food hub out of the Adie Knox complex.
I look forward to discussing how we can continue to collaborate in order to sustain our mission of providing healthy, nutritious food to those most in need during this difficult time. Please feel free to contact me by phone at 519.981.3222 or by email at jmuir@uhc.ca . Thank you for your consideration of this request.
Most sincerely,
June Muir, FCIS, CEO, UHC