Before the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, the department manning a seniors’ helpline at WoodGreen Community Services would receive at least 40 calls a weekend from elderly people seeking help. Just days after stay-home measures came into effect, the number jumped to more than 300.

“It was overwhelming. We’ve had to staff up and re-deploy our staff. We’ve had to develop new areas of service or programming that didn’t exist before,” said Michelle German, WoodGreen’s vice-president in charge of equity and strategy.

WoodGreen, one of the largest social-service agencies in Toronto, has provided services to thousands of people across the city for more than 80 years. Its seniors’ care program normally helps seniors get connected to their primary healthcare providers or organize a crisis intervention from a social or personal support worker.

But during the pandemic going into the sixth week, seniors are mostly calling the centre in hopes of getting some groceries while they’re in isolation, said German. A few of the callers also express concern about possibly having contracted the virus and needing an assessment, and others ask for help figuring out how to access government benefits.

The surge in food demand has propelled WoodGreen to launch the COVID-19 Commitment Challenge, an effort to raise enough funds to buy and deliver groceries to seniors in various parts of the city.

A number of community organizations and corporate institutions have stepped up, including Sidewalk Labs, Loblaws, the Raymond Chang Foundation and the Daniels, Dream and Newpoint development firms. Over $100,000 has been raised and used to purchase and deliver more than 1,000 bags of groceries to seniors in need.

German said in addition to food demands, many seniors have become “very isolated” during this pandemic and will call the centre in hopes of getting some kind of social contact.

WoodGreen staff has had to devise a plan that can address this issue. There’s a new program where the agency purchases and delivers activity kits to seniors at their homes. These kits range from puzzles and cards to materials to make masks. Staff also offer online exercise classes for seniors.

“When COVID hit, seniors’ connection to the outside world was just cut off,” said German, noting WoodGreen used to run outdoor programs for seniors’ physical well-being and social contact. “Now we’re inspired to move fast and make sure that most people who are all of a sudden stuck at home and don’t necessarily have support network can get what they need.”

WoodGreen also has established a “proactive family check-in” initiative, which is about reaching out to the seniors to find out how they’re doing during this time of crisis.

German said one person in the entire WoodGreen network developed mild symptoms of COVID-19 and has recovered. The group’s staff members who are on the frontline had taken extensive training about infection diseases and had already been using personal protective equipment before COVID-19 pandemic, she said.

“One of the main drivers of these initiatives we’ve been implementing is to keep our people home,” she said, adding WoodGreen also runs some housing programs around the city where about 1,200 people live, most of them seniors.

“They don’t have to worry or feel stressed out about where their food is coming from or if their medicine will be dropped off. They have much more comfort in staying in and following the directives of public health.”