GBF EXPANDING FOCUS TO OVERALL COMMUNITY WELLNESS

WEEKLY FUN WITH FRIENDS EVENTS A WAY TO GET PEOPLE SOCIALIZING AGAIN

GBF used to just stand for Grimsby Benevolent Fund, but now it has a second meaning.

The latest evolution of the service agency is seeing its focus expand beyond emergency food and shelter, and even beyond its clients and the borders of Grimsby. In an effort to help everyone and possibly prevent issues before they become serious, GBF is expanding its work in general community wellness throughout West Niagara.

"If you think of GBF, it doesn't stand for 'great big friends.' But that's basically what we are now is: Your great big friend," said Irene Podolak, president of GBF.

Partially the natural progression of the agency and partially from lessons learned through the COVID-19 pandemic, Podolak and CEO Stacy Elia said the new focus goes beyond what they've traditionally done. It also ties together many of the threads or services GBF and similar agencies offer.

"We created a framework to make it really clear. And basically, rather than have it complicated with a whole bunch of different categories we settled on four. And that's physical wellness, mental wellness, social wellness and environmental wellness," Podolak said.

Utilizing the Community Hub on Elm Street, GBF is discovering what the community needs and how it — or others — can best service those needs.

It starts with a wellness self-assessment that covers those four pillars of wellness. The results of the self-assessment show the individual where they could focus their attention, and GBF comes up with ways it can help. It could be something as simple as attending Fun with Friends, a weekly get together of socializing that includes a presentation from a local speaker on a variety of topics.

"This is something that we realized with COVID, that there was so much stress, so much anxiety. People didn't have the relationships that they needed with others in their family. They couldn't connect," said Podolak "And so we thought the first opportunity we have, we need to start getting people out and getting them here and getting connected."

They also expanded a cooking class to

the community, which proved successful, and sent out wellness packages with the help of the Grimsby Firefighters' Association that contained nutritious foods that promote overall health, as well as a positive message the person could keep with them on the fridge or by their bed.

Their efforts are being noticed, too. Recently, Feed Ontario presented GBF with the Innovator Award for the work the organization has done.

"I'm extremely proud of what the team has done to achieve this," said Elia. "We are a team that really listens to our community."

In 2017, GBF won Feed Ontario's Leadership Award.

Podolak and Elia say they want to take full advantage of the Hub while they can, using it as an incubator of sorts. As they continue to discover the needs of the community and develop further partnerships with other agencies like the Grimsby Life Centre or Big Brothers Big Sisters, they can move programming beyond the walls of the Hub.

They also hope their efforts prove to have a preventive impact, helping get people to the services they need before it escalates to something more serious.

For more information in GBF's programs, visit gbfgrimsby.com.