Despite these troubling times, the community is continuing to show strength and find ways to safely come together while staying a safe distance apart. For weeks now, campaigns have been started across the province by various groups and individuals, raising funds and collecting necessary items which are needed by the most vulnerable.
Jeremy Bingeman, a Cub member with 1st Elmira Scouts, has Scouting and an aptitude for community involvement in his blood. He is in his final year as a Cub, getting ready to move to the next level, and needed to complete a project within the community. To accomplish this and gain the Seeonee award, he held a food drive to support Woolwich Community Services on May 2.
Jeremy’s mother, Alissa Bingeman, says social distancing impacted his original plans, but the new idea he and his family came up with allowed people to get out of the house to enjoy the nice weekend weather while keeping a safe distance and lending a hand to help those in need.
“At one point he had the idea of doing a food drive, doing the flyers and the going door-to-door to collect, but with the social distancing going on right now the best option we came up with was to put the trailer at the end of the driveway,” said Bingeman.
She says the community reaction was great and residents were thanking them for taking on this project to help so many people who may be struggling.
Some people in the community don’t have a lot right now and they were some of the first to send a monetary donation or drop off food, that made us feel good as a family, she said.
Handing out about 500 flyers and posting about the event on social media, the drive collected more than $1,000 in monetary donations and about 800 food and hygiene items.
Satisfied with a job well done, Bingeman is extremely happy with how the community came together for the project in such a short time.
“We were overwhelmed with the response for the cash donations that we got as well as the items, but we weren’t surprised by how high the cash donations were,” said Bingeman. “The food banks can buy the items they need.”
The donations were dropped off to a grateful Woolwich Community Services on Monday afternoon.
