Regional Emergency Response Council Emergency
Grocery Gift Card Round 2

Funding: This initiative was made possible with the funding from Social and Housing Services, the Social Serviced Relief Fund.

Agency Referrals: On  September 9th 2021 an email was sent to community agencies announcing that the RERC would be providing grocery store gift cards to clients in need. Agencies were asked to submit a password protected excel sheet with the first initial, last name, phone number and address and apartment number of clients they were referring. Clients had the choice of grocery stores in order to ensure they were receiving cards for the store the most convenient for them. The received client lists were then cross referenced to find any duplications.

Self Referrals: There were no self referrals for this round as we anticipated an enormous request if we advertised. Rather, Stephanie Beauvais, Administration and Project Assistant for the Social Development Council contacted 370 previous self referrals to offer them the gift card assistance.

The Gift Cards: The gift cards were purchased from the following grocery stores:

• Giant Tiger
• Food Basics
• FreshCo
• No Frill
• Independent Grocer
• Valu-Mart
• Food Land
• Henderson’s Grocery

Cards for Single/Double households were $50.00, families received $75.00 and large families received $95.00

Unfortunately due to a logistical issue we were not able to provide Food Basic Gift Cards. No Frills, Giant Tiger and FreshCo provided us with the replacement cards at the very last minute. These partnerships are incredibly appreciated.

Project by the numbers: 2382 households were served. 1407 Single/double households, 814 families and 161 large families. Below you will find the breakdown by agency.

Volunteers: On October 5th we held our Self-Referral pick up day. 16 volunteers delivered cards to those who did not have access to transportation.