It was a busy three and a half months.

When COVID-19 forced most non-profits doors to be closed, many immediately began looking for ways to pivot their staff and their resources to other means of helping their communities.

For The Center in Swift Current, it was no different.

Mostly known as an after-school haven for at-risk youth, The Center; operated by the Swift Current Community Youth Initiative (SCCYI), would provide not only a safe place for teens and youths to congregate but also mentorship and counselling to those in need. And they would also typically feed anywhere from 20 to 35 youths per day through their meal program; kids who may not be lucky enough to have food security at home.

Nathan Wiebe is the executive director of the SCCYI.

He said that it only made sense with the doors closed to ramp up their meal program to meet a suddenly rising need.

"When COVID hit we kind of made the decision as a team at The Center. You're going to do something, or you're going to do nothing and we thought that it was time for us to kind of step up to the plate and help people that we've been trying to help over the years. So it turned out to be really incredible thing."

That ramping up turned into 5000 meals served over the three and a half months that followed; thanks to not only various donations, but other funding opportunities that came their way thanks to the United Way's Community Support Grant which helped to purchase supplies and pay kitchen staff.

"And not only from them. We received support from the Kinettes, we received various donations from community members wanting to get behind our cause, which is so incredibly amazing. We received some money from Kiwanis who wanted to as well support us and make sure this meal program happened."

He added that the United Way partnered with them immediately because they were able to reach the seniors and the other demographics that The Center would not typically focus on. With the incredible amount of people who stepped up, they were able to diversify their meal program in order to help more than just kids.

Wiebe says that it never ceases to amaze him how people and businesses in the southwest step up to the plate.

"The support we've been able to get over the years to just do various things. You look at the Credit Union as well. The Credit Union has also donated towards our meal programs and that's been a huge one for us too. They just donated $7500 to go towards some of our meal programs and other projects during this time. In a time when donations are very sparse, everything goes such a long way."

Now that the province is into its reopening plan, with The Center soon to be reopening its doors to its youths in need and returning to its core programming, they'll be scaling their meal program back down to regular levels at the end of June.

Wiebe says that it's not about the need going away, or that they don't see it as important, but rather a function of allocating their resources where they can do the most good.

We're able to have kids back in The Center. And because we have a limited staff number, and limited funds moving forward for the meal program we decided we're now over there now able to bring kids back in, let's connect with the kids that we haven't been able to connect with and provide support for them in programs."

The Center is hoping for a mid-July return to its regular programming.