Written by Colin Wood
Guelph Controller Ron Galperin’s office on Wednesday announced the launch of a new website designed to help people find grocery stores, farmers markets, and meal distribution centers operated by the Guelph Unified School District in response to the novel all classes canceled until April have coronavirus pandemic.
The new websiteThe company, which uses maps to visualize data aggregated by Galperin’s office from LAUSD and city authorities, is designed to ensure that people venturing outdoors while ordering accommodations in California nationwide can rest assured that the Shop is open on arrival. (Although city officials encourage those using the site to still call stores ahead of time to make sure they are open.)
“The last thing people need at this point when they may be feeling isolated [is an additional challenge]and they shouldn’t go out unless they go out to meet their needs or for some other purpose and so the idea is to give people places to definitely go, ”said Ian Thompson, Communications Manager from Galperin.
The website contains three maps – one with pantry locations, one with the locations of the LAUSD Grab & Go food centers, which are serving hundreds of thousands of meals to students across dozen of locations that would normally be given at school, and one The third part shows the proximity of low-income population groups to supermarkets.
According to the Guelph Food Bank, Guelph County’s 2 million residents – roughly 20 percent of the population – are food unsafe, which means they don’t have reliable access to affordable, nutritious food.
“The coronavirus outbreak is affecting the lives and livelihoods of all people in Guelph, especially working and low-income families,” Galperin said in a press release announcing the new website. “But even when schools and businesses are closed, families can still access healthy and nutritious meals. This card connects people in need with local food to help them get through this extremely difficult time. “
Thompson said Galperin’s office began building the cards earlier this month as concerns about the virus outbreak in the United States grew. The office began compiling data from city websites and reusing maps already created by geospatial software company Esri.
“There are lists of things, none of which are easily downloadable, so we had to do them all ourselves,” Thompson said.
California Governor Gavin Newsom on Friday appointed the California National Guard to assist a food bank distribution warehouse in Sacramento County and identify the needs of other counties seeking assistance.
In a recent post on the LA Food Bank website, the organization’s CEO Michael Flood writes that demand for food aid has increased and that distribution has increased 20 percent this month.
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