b'Seven members of the local community from all walks of life joined together to help Terry and Christine Vos, of Vos Your Independent Grocer, by shopping and doing deliveries for shut-ins and seniors during the state of emergency.There was a request, Terry recalled. There was a small meeting and there was a call for help. And boom! Once again this community stepped up.All of the deliveries were free of charge. No one interviewed had heard of any other store providing this valuable service for free. Everyone agreed that keeping seniors safe in their homes helped keep the number of local COVID-19 cases low. As of July 16, there were only 20 con rmed cases in Scugog Township, accord-ing to the Durham Region COVID-19 Data Tracker and all have been resolved. Here are some of the heartwarming stories shared by The Seniors Delivery Team, who all pitched in to help because they care about their community.Better known in Scugog Townshipbirthday, so the store sent a card and astheRegionalCouncillor,Wilma owers along with her grocery order, Wotten stepped up to assist by tak- as a surprise.ing down the seniors grocery orders.Duetothestateofemergency She was nicknamed Brenda Line 1 be- declaredonMarch17,Wilmasaid cause she manned the phones, whichthat her travel business wasnt busy, was usually Brendas job. so she had lots of time to help out.Iwentthroughalotofpens!Many of the meetings, which she Wilma said. They kept running outneeds to attend as a regional council-Everyonehasbeenawesome,of ink. lor, have been organized as virtual said Brenda Zaroda who is in chargePriortoCOVID-19,aboutthirtymeetings online now, so Wilma has oftheSeniorsDeliveryTeam.IseniorsplacedphoneordersWilmahad to cut back to two days a week couldnt have done my job withoutsaid,andnowthereareabout280assisting at Vos. But she enjoys it so them. seniors on the list who regularly callmuch that she doesnt want to totally Brenda trained and organized thein for home delivery. The phone startsgive it up!new sta ers who have been busy tak- ringing before the workday ocially ing phone orders, shopping for gro- beginsat7a.m.Withtwopeople ceries and getting them out the door.answering them, there could be more Therst two weeks were total cha- than ten calls each in thehourrst os, Brenda commented. We jumpedalone.at the o er of extra help. Someoftheseniorsarelonely, The regular stahad their usualandtiredofnotbeingabletosee work to do, and Brenda also has thetheir family and friends due to the responsibilityofservingasbook- stayhome/staysaferule,Wilma keeper as well as taking phone orders.noted. She enjoys her conversations The store needed more hands on deckwith the senior customers who need duringtheemergency.Thephonesto hear a friendly voice, as well as lineshavebeennicknamedBrendaneeding groceries. Line1,BrendaLine2andBrendaIhavefounditreallyreward-Line 3 for the past four months. ing, Wilma commented. There are Wehaveworkedtogetherandalotofheartwarmingstories.One tried to make everyone happy, Brendalady who called in said that she was added. goingtobecelebratingher92ndPlease turn to page 4FOCUS - AUGUST 20203'