If the staff and volunteers of AIDS Vancouver didn’t believe in Christmas miracles before, they do now.
Heidi Morgan, coordinator of the group’s grocery program, said the outpouring of donations and goodwill from the community in recent weeks has been incredible.
On Nov. 29, the Courier featured the AIDS Vancouver holiday grocery program in a front-page story after volunteer Nancy Wong put the word out on social media about the need for donations.
Morgan described the response from the community as immediate and overwhelming.
“We can’t thank everyone enough,” said Morgan, wiping away a tear. “You can quantify the donations, but the effect they’ve had on everyone here is immeasurable.”
Smiles were everywhere Tuesday afternoon as clients lined up to enter the small “grocery store” located on the main floor of AIDS Vancouver.
With a large amount of groceries to hand out, clients were directed to an adjacent meeting room where Santa was parked on a folding chair and music blared from an iPhone.
The annual event typically sees 800 men and women drop by the AIDS Vancouver building on Seymour Street to choose from a variety of groceries, including cookies, pudding and juice for likely the only festive food they’ll enjoy this holiday season.
Tree of Life natural foods donated two pallets of organic cereal and Blanket B.C. came on board with 300 blankets. Starbucks staff acted as volunteers and donated coffee to serve to clients Tuesday.
Even before the Courier helped spread the word, Ethical Bean Coffee donated 400 pounds of coffee. To carry the groceries home, Telus donated 1,000 cloth shopping bags.
The Vancouver chapter of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a global charity, raised $750 and an online donor gave $5,000 contributing to the $18,000 in cash also raised.
“But we had at least another $2,000 worth of food brought in by individuals,” said Morgan.
O’Reilly said many people made donations on behalf of Joe (JP) Smith, who appeared on the Courier’s cover Nov. 29.
“People would come up to me and say they saw JP in the paper and wanted to donate,” said O’Reilly.
AIDS Vancouver client and volunteer Tyler Cuddahay said after having been homeless he knows how important events like the holiday grocery are.
“It puts a smile on my face,” said Cuddahay, who remembers the exact date — Dec. 4, 2006 — when he learned he was HIV positive.
He describes it as the day the old Tyler left his body and a new one moved in. Since then Cuddahay has gotten involved with YouthCO, eventually becoming a board member. He’s volunteered for AIDS Vancouver for almost three years.
“I won’t see my biological family at Christmas, but these people are my family now,” said Cuddahay, whose family lives in Alberta.
“Sometimes it’s not the family you’re born to, it’s who you choose that becomes family.”
Moments later, a client standing in the lobby began to spontaneously sing the chorus of the Journey ballad “Don’t Stop Believin’.”
A fitting anthem considering the events staff and volunteers of AIDS Vancouver have experienced in recent weeks.
sthomas@vancourier.com
twitter.com/sthomas10
