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Food delivery coming for remote Vancouver Island communities

Roads in poor condition since last week’s snow, lengthy power outages
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The warming centre in Tahsis last week. Tahsis is one of the communities getting a delivery of food this week. Photo courtesy SRD

Residents of Tahsis, Zeballos, Ehatis, Oclucje and Kyuquot still reeling from last week’s snow are going to see some relief this week, as the Strathcona Regional District has arranged food deliveries for those affected communities.

The idea is that people can order groceries from a nearby grocery store (different stores will be delivering to different communities) and the SRD along with community partners will deliver the groceries to the various communities.

“Residents place their order online and pay with a credit card. We pickup all the orders for the community and transport the groceries in,” said SRD protective services coordinator Shaun Koopman. “Western Forest Products is helping to deliver the groceries to Tahsis tomorrow. Air Nootka is assisting with delivering the groceries to Kyuquot.”

Groceries will be sourced from the Port McNeill IGA for Kyuquot, Zeballos and Oculcje, and Save On Foods will service Tahsis.

Since the snow last week, the roads into these remote communities have been in poor condition. The SRD has recommended that people stay off the roads unless their travel is essential.

“The BC Emergency Management System’s top three priorities are to ensure health and safety of volunteers and first responders; save lives; and reduce suffering,” Koopman said in an email. “Currently the winter Forest Service Road conditions are dangerous and continuously changing. I feel an argument can be made that by trying to ensure people don’t make unessential travel on the FSRs will reduce the chances of accidents… and therefore limit placing our first responders in a dangerous situation to respond these accidents.”

He is hoping that conditions improve by the end of the day on Wednesday, but acknowledged that things can change quickly.

Specific information per community can be found at https://srd.ca/regional_eoc/, including how to order and where to meet the delivery when it arrives.

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marc.kitteringham@campbellrivermirror.com

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Marc Kitteringham

About the Author: Marc Kitteringham

I joined Campbell River Mirror in early 2020, writing about the environment, housing, local government and more.
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