On March 16, Cathy Jacobs and her family business, Angel’s Cafe, joined the growing list of businesses in Calgary to close its doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
But Jacob isn’t letting the closure stop her from serving the community.
“It was a mutual decision by the family, one of the hardest ones we’ve ever made, to close our already struggling business down,” Jacobs said during an interview with 770 CHQR on Monday.
“We had to figure out what to do with all the food we’d just gotten in to re-supply our cafe. So we decided that we were going to cook it up and give it out to those in need.”
Jacobs said her family decided to create these care packages for vulnerable populations with the leftover stock, but the seemingly small idea soon snowballed into something much bigger.
“We were trying to make sure that people were only calling for help if they were in isolation or quarantine and absolutely had no resources and no help.
“We don’t really have any way of filtering that, so we’re just trusting that people are making the right decision before calling us and that they’re calling us for all the right reasons.”
LISTEN: Angel’s Cafe is offering meals Calgary’s vulnerable populations amid COVID-19 pandemic
Now the family is looking to the community for help in continuing these care packages for as long as needed.
The cafe is taking donations from the public of essential foods, including a variety of protein, vegetables, pasta and rice.
“Our biggest need right now is any kind of meat to build the meals with,” she said.
“We did have about 400 pounds of vegetables donated the other day and we’re blowing through that quick here.”
Jacobs said her cafe has always received a lot of support from its surrounding community.
But since her family began this initiative, she noted the cafe’s reach in the city has grown exponentially.
“I always knew our community supported us — I just didn’t realize how big our community suddenly became,” she said.
“This is just about reaching out and saying we care — and we know you care — so let’s just do the best we can for as long as we can.”
All donations can be dropped off outside the cafe at 4105 Montgomery View N.W.
Jacobs asked that all residents adhere to social-distancing regulations and safety protocols when dropping off or picking up items.