Alma Durkin knows all too well the importance of having quality food in a time of crisis.
The 93-year-old Aurora resident served as a “Land Girl” in the latter days and aftermath of the Second World War, a member of the Women's Land Army, which harnessed the power of women in agriculture sectors to help feed service persons and a hungry nation.
The present crisis of COVID-19 has some echoes of the war effort. People are coming together in bad times coming up with new ways of staying connected and lending a hand – even when landing a hand can only be done at a distance.
Ms. Durkin has done just that.
On Saturday, she led her community of Ardill Crescent in a donation drive for the Aurora Food Pantry.
Inspired by stories shared with her by her daughter of small retirement communities coming together for the cause, she thought her community, in which she has lived for 33 years, could step up to the plate and do the same.
Armed with an iPad, she drafted a flyer for the neighbourhood, wrangling young neighbours to deliver the message.
The message was clear: “I feel so blessed to have food and shelter during this stressful time and you probably feel the same way,” she wrote to her neighbours. “So many people are not so lucky and are suffering.”
Noting the need for hot and cold cereals, canned meat, fish, vegetables and stews, condiments, crackers, rice, personal hygiene products, diapers and baby formula, she encouraged her neighbours to grab a few extra things while out shopping or shopping online and leave them out on their porches for pickup on Saturday morning.
“When I heard about what Uxbridge was doing, I thought it was a great idea,” Ms. Durkin tells The Auroran. “If they could do it, maybe Ardill could do it because it is such a good community. I figured we could all probably afford to contribute without too much suffering!”
She downplays her involvement, paying tribute to the neighbours that came together to help execute her vision (“I really just had the idea, but I haven't done that much! I ordered some groceries, friends of mine have dropped things off, so that's it!”) but it's clear she's proud of how the community answered her call.
“I just never expected it to be like this and I am just absolutely amazed,” she says. “People have reached out to me, people I don't even know, and they have reached out to me in the most friendly, helpful way. I think maybe the pandemic is not all that bad; it is bringing out some nice traits in people. People are realizing that we have to depend on each other.”
In this way, she says she is reminded of the spirit of the Second World War, particularly as the 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day was marked on the eve of the Ardill food drive.
“When I was about twelve, I was evacuated,” she remembers. “I was away from my parents and my little brother for over a year, living with strangers who took us in.”
Growing up near Liverpool, a city that was often a target for bombing due to nearby shipyards, she was evacuated to Wales for about a year before her mother brought them home.
“We were bombed a lot,” she says. “We were lucky; our house was never hit. I don't think anybody today could imagine being in the dark for five years. We had blackouts, not a speck of light once it got dark. Nobody had a light and people were going around to check there wasn't a chink of light coming through. That is how it had to be. There wasn't a light all over Europe, all over England, all over the sea. It was utter darkness. When Vera Lynn sings, ‘When the lights go on again all over the world,' that's what she means.”
Ms. Durkin and her husband, 95, a D-Day Veteran who joined the Royal Navy when he was just 18, came to Canada around 1950 and have lived here ever since.
“People come together in bad times,” she says. “I think they realize that we only have each other to depend on. We need to depend on each other and be kind to each other. That's all that really matters in the whole of life – and that's the lesson I've learned: you have to be kind.”
If you would like to contribute to the current COVID-19 fight, Alma Durkin encourages you to make a donation to Canada Helps at canadahelps.org, or make a donation directly to the Aurora Food Pantry. (aurorafoodpantry.ca).
By Brock Weir
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