Samaritan House appeals for essentials

Samaritan House Ministries in Brandon has put a call out for donations of socks and other essentials — and a Brandon car dealership is pitching in with a fundraiser later this month.

Heather Symbalisty, executive director of Samaritan House, noted a decline in physical and financial donations from the community over the past year, pointing to rising gas and grocery prices. At the same time, she said the impacts of inflation have led to new people accessing their services.

“We’re seeing more individuals who haven’t accessed our services before,” Symbalisty said on Tuesday. “We’re recognizing that things are not easy out there, especially when it comes to the high price of groceries.”

Currently, the organization is seeking donations from the community of socks, coffee, tea and disposable cups and cutlery, which are handed out and used at its Safe and Warm shelter every night.

Symbalisty said there has also been a decrease in funds received this year from local grocery stores, where customers have the opportunity to donate to local food banks at checkout.

The group’s food bank program is not funded by the federal or provincial government, but relies on community, corporate and private donations.

On the corporate side, Kelleher Ford will be giving a boost to Samaritan House on June 13.

The dealership is donating $30 to the non-profit for every vehicle that is test driven on their lot between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., up to 200 test drives, or $6,000.

“I just had no idea of the amount of people that they feed, and what they do in our community. It’s such a worthy cause,” said Kelleher Ford executive director Jarrett Beyko, who is working with the organization for the first time on the charitable event.

Samaritan House operates several services in the Brandon area that provide aid through emergency shelter and address food insecurity in the region.

The Safe and Warm shelter is a 41-bed facility, with 16 beds funded by Samaritan House and 25 by the province.

The non-profit also operates a food hamper program, where clients can receive one hamper with non-perishable food items and hygienic essentials each month.

“In January, we handed out just over 1,600 food hampers alone,” Symbalisty said. “On average, we will be seeing 75 to 100 people per day, looking for a monthly hamper.”

The non-profit also runs a second-stage transitional housing program for women who are fleeing sexual violence, an employment resource centre and adult literacy programming at its training centre location downtown.

The non-profit recently received $100,000 from the Brandon-Westman Christmas Cheer Registry from the proceeds of U.S. liquor sales provided to charities by the province earlier this year.

Symbalisty is currently working with the board of directors to distribute these funds, which she said will likely go toward building repairs and maintenance at their service locations.

“The $100,000 comes in handy for those bigger calls that we don’t want to make to the community,” she said.

Physical donations of essential goods can be dropped off at 820 Pacific Ave. Symbalisty noted that Interac e-Transfer is available for financial donations, and that tax receipts are available upon request with a provided mailing address.

» jmurray@brandonsun.com