A sense of duty has come calling for some Chatham-Kent residents wanting to help a local food drive currently underway.
Darlene Rylett, who works at Copper Terrace nursing home in Chatham, told Blackburn News that her home has issued a challenge to other local long term care homes to see which facility can collect the most non-perishable food for "The May 16th Miracle" food drive that ends next weekend.
Rylett said she feels lucky to be working and hopes her colleagues fill as many boxes as they can to help those who are out of work and struggling to feed themselves and their families.
"We're all just one big family," she said.
Rylett said there's a certain amount of pride that comes with the rivalry between the local nursing homes to see who is the best and this show of solidarity is boosting staff morale across all of the homes for employees who are working very long hours.
"We're trying to keep the residents happy because they can't see their family members so that's really a big downer for them," she said. "I've been doing my part, I've dressed up like a dinosaur and the residents loved it. I've had my daughter come and sing outside."
She admitted it's a scary time and it's hard going to work because she never knows if she will catch the novel coronavirus.
Mitch White of Handy Brothers Climate Care was born and raised in Chatham-Kent and wanted to help Rylett because he said it's important to give back and help during hard times.
"We have a week left and we want to make sure we get as much as possible, bring a little team spirit into it, a little competitiveness, and have fun with it," said White.
Rylett said, so far, Copper Terrace has collected $1,000 to buy groceries for the food drive. White said he collected $300 on Friday alone to buy canned goods. Handy Brothers has also donated two trailers to store the food collected and wants to fill a van of his own with food donations.