Imagine if you were living with domestic abuse at your home, or if you were a parent fleeing your adult children, or experiencing landlord abuse – SAGE Transition House is there for women and children who need a safe short-term stay.
Operating as a program under the North Shore Crisis Services Society, SAGE can have up to 18 women and children staying at the House at once. Each family can stay for up to 30 days with access to many types of support, including food support, provided by 24 hour onsite Women’s Advocate workers. Froozan is the Program Coordinator at SAGE. She has been supporting women and children at risk for over 25 years. Our Food Bank has supported SAGE for more than 10 years, and in that time Froozan has seen a noticeable increase in the amount of healthy food they receive from the GVFB.
The Food Bank has been providing SAGE with a generous amount of food each month. Froozan and her colleagues prepare hot meals daily for the residents, and they have been encouraging the residents to “take as much food as they need” as it can be a difficult time for many of us.
Most of the non-perishable items that SAGE receives from the Food Bank are saved for when the women and children leave. “When the residents are ready to move out they are so stressed out about the move itself, and with us trying to get them furniture and bedding, food always seems to be the last thing they think of,” Froozan says. “Now we can offer them food from the food pantry so that for the first little while they have food in the house.”