Dear Editor:

I suspect that there will be many folks who will be glad to see the end of 2020. There have been so many challenges as our community was impacted by the restrictions and impacts of COVID-19. Local businesses have struggled, people have lost work or had their number of hours reduced and we’ve had to socially distance ourselves from family and friends we’ve known for years. It has been a tough year and it doesn’t look like the beginning of 2021 will be much of an improvement.

Despite the challenges, what I have learned over the months from March to December is that our community’s generosity has never faltered. As chair of the Board of OSHaRE, I knew that we would be facing some significant changes to the way that we provided food for those needing help in the Owen Sound area. In March, OSHaRE took on the additional task of providing a lunch meal as well as our usual dinner offering, trusting that we would find the resources to meet this increased demand. Later in the year, OSHaRE also began providing meals for those placed in emergency housing by the municipality. We need not have worried about support because the good people in the Owen Sound area responded. Our volunteers stepped up to help, providing the extra hours needed to prepare meals. Business and individual donors stepped up to provide both food and financial gifts. Support came through from the Grey County. Through the Food Rescue program in partnership with Zehrs of Owen Sound, thousands of pounds of food has been processed into nutritious lunches and dinners and has also been shared with other area programs that are involved in addressing community hunger issues.

We live in a generous community, a community that has provided OSHaRE with the resources to serve over 65,000 meals to those in need as we close out 2020. To put that number in perspective, in all of 2019 OSHaRE served 21,000 meals.

Yes, it has been a tough year, but as Chair of the Board, I’ll remember this year as the one where the generosity of our community was a bright, shining light in an otherwise dark time.

To all those who have helped us at OSHaRE in so many ways, thank you for your generous support. You are our partners in this important community work.

Thom McDonough
Chair of the Board
OSHaRE

“What we have, we will share."