The La Ronge men’s support group, Men of the North, have gone from supporting each other to supporting their community. They have taken it upon themselves to deliver food and essential items to vulnerable people during the pandemic. Elders, the chronically ill, and those who have compromised immune systems can take part in this initiative.
“We shifted our group from, y’know, helping the men in our community to the men helping our community.” Said Christopher Merasty, founder of Men of the North. “So, such things as delivery of groceries, cleaning supplies, as well as prescription pick ups and deliveries if needed. So, we have adapted, things have been going really good.”
Anyone can be infected by Covid-19, but there are people who are more at risk not only for infection, but to develop respiratory complications if they do get infected, such as the elderly and those with pre-existing health conditions. These people are strongly urged to self isolate as much as they can. However, the elderly and those with illness are more likely to need to have prescriptions filled or to regularly see a doctor, which puts them at risk as they would need to leave their home to do these things, not to mention buying food, which everyone needs.
So, the men of the North have taken it upon themselves to help those who need it. Initially, they were delivering to elders in the community, but they realized that there are other people who need extra help as well and now offer the service to anyone who needs it. And it’s proving to help the people who are volunteering, as many people are now out of work and as anyone who has struggled with their thoughts can attest to, an idle mind is a dangerous place.
“It gives the men, or the volunteers, a good sense of purpose, a sense of accomplishment.” Merasty said. “And it’s giving back to the community. That’s exactly what I started men of the North for, to give back to the community.”
Merasty said that there was a day when they helped 451 community members by delivering 101 hampers to members of the LLRIB reserve. And it’s not just la Ronge that they’re aiming to help either.
“We’ve been out to Hall Lake and Sucker River, we haven’t been out to Stanley Mission as of yet.” Said Merasty. “But, I mean, if it does require, we could definitely pick up your purchase or your delivery in La Ronge and deliver them to your checkpoints there in your community and uh, and then we go from there. We don’t have to come right into your community, we can work something out where we can drop them off deliver either a trailer or a truckload right to your guys’ checkpoint, we could meet somebody there.”
The group also takes safety measures while handling items by wearing gloves and masks, coveralls, using disinfectant spray and hand sanitizer, and they make sure to sanitize “high touch” areas in their vehicles so as not to spread germs. To keep with social distancing, items in La Ronge are delivered to the person’s doorstep and left for the person to pick up. A knock on the door signals that the hamper has arrived and they watch from a distance to make sure that the hamper is received, then they are on to the next delivery.
The LLRIB has donated items, but there is still money needed for gas and other travel essentials, which Merasty has found through Community Initiatives Fund.
“I applied for a Community Initiatives Funding program through Sask Health.” Merasty said. “I told them since, y’know, our group activities or meetings are kind of on hold during this crisis, maybe I can, umm, repurpose that money in helping, y’know, volunteers with the men of the North. Helping them with, y’know umm, proper protective equipment, reasonable transportation costs as well as snacks, coffee, that type of thing and they gave me the approval for that.”
For those who may need groceries delivered, it’s safer for the group and for yourself, to pay for the groceries with a credit or debit card over the phone and the groceries or whatever else can be picked up and delivered.
“We don’t like handling cash, but I mean, if we need to then we will.” Merasty said of payment options.
“As far as if you have a credit card, please phone to the Co-Op. Margaret there, I talked to her, she’s willing to take your credit card information as well as Co-Op number and when you put in your order for groceries, we’ll go over there to Co-Op and pick up your groceries. And it’s not gonna be all the groceries on the list ‘cause I was told that they’re having problems with supply on the shelves with things like toilet paper, hand soap, hand sanitizer, cleaning products, that type of stuff, so a lot of that stuff you might not be able to get and honestly, they’re having the same problems down south, too. So, if you travel to P.A thinking that you’re going to get all these items, they’re having the same problems there as well.”
Items such as toilet paper are becoming slightly less hard to find, but sanitizing and disinfecting products remain elusive all over the Province as they are in very high demand. There are ways to make cleaning products home if you happen to have isopropyl alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, and bleach. There are many resources online, one of them being The Morning Star lodge on YouTube. Of course, anyone who intends to make their own cleaning products should take the proper safety measures. For those who would prefer to purchase certain products, Merasty has some advice.
“Keep on checking. Let us know, or phone the Co-Op, phone Aces, or Giant Tiger.” Merasty advises.
“Maybe they might have some of that stuff. And do kind of, help us out. Ok, well, Co-op doesn’t have this, Giant Tiger does, so if you can, maybe swing by Giant Tiger, pick up these items over there and also don’t phone us and require a bag of chips or a pop or something like that ‘cause we’re definitely not going to be like that and deliver one or two items. We definitely like to get a few items in there, make it worth the trip.”
This initiative is run by volunteers who want to help their community’s most vulnerable during a time of crisis and would like for the community members to not try to take advantage of what they’re doing. The group can deliver things like chips and pop if they’re added to a list of some more items.
“I know some people are going through a tough time.” Merasty says.
“Whether it be losing their job or even struggling through this pandemic. Whether it be physically, mentally, emotionally, or even spiritually, I mean it’s a tough and a challenging time. So, for us doing this and our community working together to help support our community, that is gonna be beneficial for everybody here in our community.”
If anyone wishes to contact men of the North for this endeavor they can go to their Facebook page called ‘Men of the North’ or call 306-425-3455, 306-425-7128, 306-425-7335, or email [email protected].
