Meet Red Cross volunteer Gloria Francis. For the last year she has been volunteering several days out of every week at the Scarborough Drop-In Centre. The Drop-in Centre is a Red Cross program that helps people in need of shelter, food, clothing and health care. The Drop-in Centre helps about 100 people every day.
Gloria helps in the kitchen, putting out food, cleaning up at the end of the day and providing other assistance to staff. She also shares information to clients about services available in the community. She is always willing to jump in and help. “If there’s a spill on the floor, I will clean it up,” she says. “I will always try to do something.”
Volunteering has given Gloria structure to her day. She is currently on long-term disability, and enjoys having a place to go and something to do. She says she is very empathetic to the situations of many of the centre’s clients. “I’m not much different from them,” she says. “I know what it’s like and how difficult it is.”
Read more about Gloria Francis.