Saturday, March 28, volunteers gathered at a donor’s facility in Mississauga to assemble pandemic kits for their Senior Assistance Program benefiting Vietnamese seniors during COVID-19. The group called United Together came into formation after the COVID-19 outbreak in order to help protect Vietnamese seniors, the most vulnerable persons of their community.
United Together currently hosts a hotline equipped with Vietnamese and English-speaking individuals to help assist the elderly. This past weekend they had 50 seniors call that could not leave their homes and risk infection. Seniors kits included non-perishable foods, toilet paper, face masks and gloves. Volunteer drivers also received kits composed of face shields, gloves, face masks and sanitizer to aid in safe delivery drop offs. Their outreach currently services elderly as far as Mississauga, Brampton, Etobicoke, North York, Toronto, Cambridge and Vaughn.
Last weekend volunteers dropped off kits to 5 senior homes in North York, 3 in Cambridge, 2 in Vaughan, 2 in Brampton, 4 In Mississauga, 2 in Etobicoke, 10 in Toronto and 10 in Mississauga. This upcoming weekend they will also be spreading outreach to Ajax and dropping off 8 in Hamilton.
The Seniors Assistance program will continue to collect supplies and put together seniors kits until the COVID-19 pandemic has cleared.
Minister of Seniors Deb Schulte, Mayor Patrick Brown and the Mississauga Food Bank have endorsed United Together and their efforts.
United Together is a group of volunteers that came together during the rise of COVID-19 to raise awareness and make sure the most vulnerable members of our community are supported. Through their community initiative, The Seniors Assistance Program volunteers have been able to provide seniors with essentials without them having to leave their homes and risk infection. A hotline for seniors offers assistance in Vietnamese and English. At a donor warehouse facility volunteers disinfect and organize kits to be dropped off to seniors. Generous donors assist United Together in making sure they have the materials to support seniors.
United Together can assist direction to any organizations or persons wanting to help support the Vietnamese community. Most needed items include non-perishable foods, toilet paper and monetary donations to continue the program.
The hotline phone number is (905) 605-6886 and is open 8:00 am to 8:00 pm.
“From our two days on the United Together hotline, our volunteers took over 50 calls and reached 35 seniors who requested help. We can confidently say from the conversation, this is an age demographic that needs our support. The elders have no choice but to stay home to self-isolate since they are high-risk and are now in fear of when their food supplies may run out. With no support, we need to let them know that we are there for them. I implore not only the Vietnamese Community, but other communities as well, to check up and see how their elders are doing. Language was not their main concern arriving in Canada, raising us was. So, let’s be there for them now. Let’s stay United Together.”
-Tai Nguyen, Seniors project lead and United Together co-lead