WCCA Story: Tina
June 26, 2020
In the Wake of COVID-19, WCCA Volunteer Tina
Portz Brings Community Together To Support Children’s Essentials Drive and
Frozen Meal Distribution for Seniors
In February 2020, Tina Portz told her friend Jay
Weatherford, executive director of WCCA, that she was interested in
volunteering with the organization. The previous year, while navigating their
first experience as foster parents, Tina and her husband Phil had been WCCA
clients. They participated in the WCCA Foster Family Support Program and
enrolled their foster child in Early Head Start and Head Start. “Getting him
set up in that program was a godsend,” Tina reflected. Their foster child, who
has since been reunited with his family, remains enrolled in the program.
Tina is an active member of her church and has
participated in charity drives to support a variety of causes around the globe.
But as the new year rolled around, she found herself drawn to more local
causes. When Tina reached out to Jay in February, she could not have predicted
that in a few short weeks she’d be helping her community navigate a global
pandemic.
Jay called Tina in mid-March. COVID-19 shutdown
orders were just then coming into effect. K-12 schools were closing. Grocery
stores were being emptied of canned goods, toilet paper, diapers and baby
wipes. Restaurants, stores, and gyms were emptying out. Some people were
starting to work from home and others were being laid off. The team at WCCA had
their hands full adapting their programs to shutdown conditions and helping
clients cope with a host of new challenges. It was an all hands on deck
situation and Jay was calling to see if Tina was ready to jump in. She was.
A campaign for diapers, baby wipes and formula
was Tina’s first challenge. According to WCCA’s needs assessment, families in
the Head Start, Women, Infants & Children (WIC), Foster Support, and other
programs were in great need of these supplies. Like toilet paper, diapers
and baby wipes were flying off store shelves. Tina and a WCCA staff member
created a Facebook announcement and a GiveMN.org fundraising and in-kind
donations campaign, and then advertised both on their personal Facebook pages
and Nextdoor neighborhood sites. Tina used her own home as one of the product
drop-off locations.
Tina was heartened by her community’s quick
response to the fundraiser. “People wanted to give, they just didn’t know how.
The minute we put together the campaign there was a quick response,” Tina
reported. Within hours of posting the campaign, for example, a new neighbor of
Tina’s saw it on Facebook and rushed out to Target to buy boxes of diapers.
When she dropped the diapers off at Tina’s house, she mentioned that she knew
what it was like to be in need and wanted to help.
With the money raised through Tina’s church
group, personal network, and the GiveMN.org campaign, Tina went on a
diaper-and-wipes treasure hunt. “We called everywhere,” Tina said. “We got a
little creative and went to hardware stores, home improvement stores, and pharmacies.
Some people even donated a portion of their unused inventory from their homes.”
Even though supplies were scarce, by the end of April, WCCA’s Children’s
Essentials Drive had managed to collect over 4,000 diapers and over 150
packages of wipes for families in need.
For Tina, the Children’s Essentials drive has
done more than just provide supplies, it has helped to strengthen community
bonds. Tina and her new neighbor are now friends. They share food and check in
on each other from time to time.
The next project Tina worked on, WCCA’s Senior
(60+) Frozen Meals Program, helped build community bonds on a far larger scale,
with local businesses stepping in to supercharge the program in response to
increased demand. As COVID-19 infections rose in Minnesota, trips to the
grocery store became hazardous for seniors. When the program launched on March
27, applications poured in. “So far I think we’ve received 1,700 applications
for senior nutrition support,” Tina noted on May 15. Tina helped document the process
flow for the entire program so that it could be used for training purposes. She
also assisted with data entry of the applications so other team members could
reach out to applicants one by one to get personally acquainted, assess their
needs, and initiate nutrition support.
With such a high level of demand, WCCA faced the
rather daunting challenge of obtaining, storing and delivering tens of
thousands of frozen meals. After the team found additional suppliers,
Trailblazer Transit stepped up and volunteered to run delivery routes for the
majority of deliveries. Using their fleet and professional drivers, volunteers
are able to efficiently and safely deliver nutritional support in large
quantities to senior’s porches. Next, J&B Group, a food supply company and
one of the area's largest employers, donated space in their warehouse freezer.
Tina was moved by the reciprocity of the relationship between J&B and the
community. Soon after agreeing to warehouse WCCA’s frozen food, J&B reached
out to the community for help in making 1,000 face masks to protect their
essential workers. Local church and community groups jumped into action and
made over 1,600 masks for J&B. “Such a wonderful example of partnerships,
relationships and networks built to help each other,” Tina noted.
New distribution centers also had to be created.
“Wright County is a large county with many established WCCA distribution
locations already in place. However, the St. Michael/Albertville/ Otsego area
did not have a distribution center.” While her husband Phil researched portable
freezers, Tina started making cold calls to churches and businesses in the area
to identify potential locations and build relationships. She discovered that
the Alleluia Lutheran Church in St. Michael already had their own small food
distribution program and that they were happy to join forces with WCCA. WCCA
used local foundation grants to purchase a double-door commercial freezer and
install it at the church. The church now houses the St. Michael distribution
center, allowing WCCA to better serve seniors in the area.
Helping families obtain essential items for
their children and seniors receive nutritional support has not only given Tina
a sense of satisfaction but has also helped her to feel more deeply connected
to her community. With Tina’s help, WCCA’s Children's Essentials Drive and
Senior (60+) Frozen Meals Program became focal points for community action.
“Networks and partnerships have grown exponentially during this pandemic,” Tina
reflected, adding “the experience of having your neighbor help you help others
is super inspiring.”'
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