Delivering comfort

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This article was published 26/11/2022 (1101 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A passion for community involvement has remained constant for Paulette Coté and her husband, Peter Czehryn, since they first met more than 30 years ago. The retired couple founded the Winnipeg Soup Fairies, a group of volunteers initially established to serve homemade soup and bread to those who fell ill during the pandemic.

The couple and an expanding number of helpers quickly began to fill a larger community need, including people living with cancer, individuals without supports and people newly home from hospital.

They partnered with a licensed kitchen, allowing them to connect with various community groups to deliver nourishing meals and comfort to a large number of people in need, serving more than 1,750 people last year.

They were surprised and humbled to hear they’d been selected to receive the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal (Manitoba), on Nov. 28 at the Legislature, for their service to the community.

“Peter and I courted and spent our early dates volunteering with Winnipeg Harvest and the Share Your Thanks Program, which have highlighted for us the critical situation of food security both in our community and across the world,” Coté said.

While grieving the death of her mother in the fall of 2020, Coté wanted to honour her giving philosophy and compassionate, loving stance for anyone who crossed her path.

“We had been grateful to bring her home to die of cancer and to experience so many healing family and friends’ visits on the deck at the lake, giving her the death at home with grace and dignity she had longed for. That experience — with the juxtaposition of so many others suffering with COVID and other illnesses at home alone without, or with limited, supports as they lay isolated — drove the birth of the Winnipeg Soup Fairies.”

When Coté’s cousin became very ill with COVID-19 early on in the pandemic, the couple responded by dropping off soup.

“Then it was a sibling’s family, and then friends we were hearing about, and soon, once it was made public, the demand and space needs meant our homemade chicken soup production moved into St. Mary’s Road United Church’s licensed kitchen, where we have been welcomed into a community with its own strong sense of service to others through the long-running St. Mary’s Road food bank, among numerous other outreach programs,” Coté explained.

A connection with the Never Alone Cancer Foundation (NACF) began and they soon started serving soup to some of its clients. The giving spirit continued to expand to include Czehryn’s Ukrainian art auctions for charity, tending to a large garden for fresh produce for the food bank, and a focus on supporting the newcomer population.

“We have been joined by so many others with their own stories who work hard as retirees (and also many younger employed and unemployed friends and family members) to hold the fabric of our society together.

“While Peter and I have co-ordinated the Winnipeg Soup Fairies, taking in requests and chatting with each of our soup recipients prior to delivery, and initially doing all the food preparation, we soon had a number of organizations and volunteers contact us to say they were interested in becoming soup fairies too,” she said. “Over the last two years, we have easily had from 250 to 300 generous people offer to volunteer, drop off food items needed for soups, bread and cookies, and of course our most generous benefactors, who have sent contributions from Florida, to Halifax, to Vancouver, with most being centred right here from our incredibly caring citizens of Winnipeg.”

The couple now acts as a co-ordination team for the St. Mary’s Road United Church food bank as they build a volunteer base, and develop a leadership team for a sustainable future to fulfil a need that has become more intense than ever. The food bank’s major outreach project feeds more than 650 people monthly in and around St. Vital.

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The couple will accept their medals on Nov. 28 in memory of those who died during the pandemic and their families who were unable to visit or grieve them properly.

“We would encourage folks to light a candle in memory of them at 5 p.m. that evening so the citizens of Winnipeg know they are not alone in their grief and they will never be forgotten.

“There are many reasons and life experiences that have informed us, and been kind to us and for that we have been incredibly grateful and have chosen to give back in the way we can, while we are able,” Coté said. “Truly, we have been floored by the number of folks who have chosen courage over comfort throughout the pandemic; it’s the army of volunteers, caregivers, medical folk, educators and wonderful humans out there who perform simple daily acts of kindness who together make a powerful difference in the community. We salute them all.”

To support the Winnipeg Soup Fairies, visit the Never Alone Cancer Foundation website (nacf.ca/support-programs/winnipeg-soup-fairies). To donate food or assist with baking and soup-making, message the Winnipeg Soup Fairies on Facebook or Instagram or email (peterpaulette92@gmail.com). To support St. Mary’s Road food bank with donations of food or winter clothing, drop off on Wednesdays at 613 St. Mary’s Rd. between 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., or make a donation to St. Mary’s Road United Church, and designate the funds for the food bank. Email office@stmarysroad.ca to make financial donations.

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