There is no question that the COVID-19 epidemic has affected the community of Swift Current.

Railway North Social House is a new business in the city.  The restaurant just opened four months ago and was already feeling the stress of starting a new business when COVID-19 hit.

Mike Bailey, the owner explains that their menu is unique in that everything is fresh and the restaurant does not have a walk-in freezer, meaning all his inventory is perishable.

He could have chosen to do something different but instead decided to close his restaurant and take out services to cooking meals and delivering them to those who can’t afford groceries.

He explains,

“We were using the resources that we have to get meals out to people in need. Originally, we just started with wanting to make use of the rest of the inventory that we had.  Most of our menu is fresh, we had a lot of perishable items so we just put the word out there and asked if anyone needed help and we got quite a bit of response and in doing those deliveries and organizing that, we realized that there were a ton of people in Swift Current who needed help and some had pretty heart-breaking stories.”

Bailey has also supplied meals to other organizations, such as the Centre and the local food bank, thanks in part, to generous donations from others in the community.  The Swift Current Powerlifting Club made a generous cash donation, while others provided inventory such as ground beef.

This display of community members reaching out to assist those in need certainly helps with the moral of Bailey’s staff as well as the recipient groups and families.

Bailey shares,

“It's great to see the community come together and there are lots of people out there doing lots of great things right now and I think it speaks volumes to the people who live in the community and how much everybody is wanting to try and help to take care of each other.  Whether it's little things to helping with deliveries to people wanting to donate.  It's fantastic to be part of a community that wants to help all of its members. This a tough situation for everybody.”

The Railway North Social House is unsure what to expect in the upcoming weeks. They are committed to doing what they can for however long they can do it.

If there is a positive side to this unfortunate situation, Bailey summarizes,

“There's no question about it. People are going to lose their jobs and lose their homes and lose businesses and it's really a horrible situation for a lot of people but again, it's fantastic to see the community come together and just really trying to help one another.”

He ends by adding that other businesses are also doing their part with delivering food within the community, as well as assisting organizations that aim to help others.