There鈥檚 a question that鈥檚 been weighing on Crystal Hedlund鈥檚 mind: 鈥淲ho comes to help the people that help everybody else?鈥�

The former Vernon woman owns Crystal鈥檚 Baked Blessings, a bakery business that she uses to help others, whether it鈥檚 feeding the homeless or giving a lift to a struggling family, especially around Christmas time when she bundles up dinners and gifts for families in need.

Hedlund lived in Vernon for about eight years until the rental market drove her out. Finding a house big enough for her six kids was going to cost $4,000 a month, so she moved to Canoe and has been operating there ever since.

At least once a month, she donates a custom cake to a low income family that can鈥檛 afford it.

Between her large family, her baking business and the charitable causes she pursues, Hedlund says burnout is 鈥渄efinitely there,鈥� but she doesn鈥檛 have time to practice self-care to alleviate that burnout.

She says the public expects her to help others, but when she needs help herself, support is limited.

鈥淲henever the owners of these companies need something for themselves to keep running the company or need something even just for themselves, nobody鈥檚 willing to donate, nobody is interested in donating to help me,鈥� she said.

鈥淲e literally bend over backwards answering phones all day and night, answering emails and messages all day, talking people off ledges, putting our own family aside to help other families 鈥� and for us not to be able to get the help that we need when we need it, it鈥檚 a little disheartening.鈥�

Hedlund says she wishes the public would see her for what she is: a human being, capable of a lot but prone to fatigue like anyone else when taking on the task of helping others with their own time and money.

鈥淚 am a person, I鈥檓 human, you know. I need to rest.鈥�

Hedlund says it would be nice if there were government grants available to her, 鈥渂ecause otherwise we do feel alone. I don鈥檛 have a team of people, it鈥檚 just me.鈥�

Carrie Lynn (the last name is a pseudonym) has been operating Food-It-Forward Okanagan, a food rescue organization, for the past two and a half years. She is applying to have the organization become a federally recognized charity.

Based in 琉璃神社, Lynn鈥檚 organization takes food that would otherwise go to the trash and uses it to feed nearly 10,000 people a week between Salmon Arm and Osoyoos.

鈥淚n British Columbia alone there鈥檚 five million dollars of food waste every single month. That equates to six billion dollars a year, and we have starving children in our school systems,鈥� Lynn said.

Lynn explains that after food donors contact her, she or one of her drivers picks the food up and takes it to the places that need it. The result can be bread for school breakfast programs, ingredients for cooks at treatment centres, or prepared food for families that are struggling to maintain self-sufficiency.

鈥淚f I could get all of the food waste in the Okanagan, nobody would go hungry.鈥�

Lynn says people can be aggressive or demanding when it comes to getting food. She鈥檚 had to deal with death threats, and violent altercations where the police have had to come defuse a situation.

As a result, she鈥檚 had to set boundaries for herself.

鈥淚鈥檓 still willing to help feed my community, but I鈥檓 only going to do it with what I鈥檓 comfortable with and what will protect me and my volunteers,鈥� she said.

Lynn says one of the biggest problems leading to burnout is crossed boundaries, and even though she鈥檚 made setting boundaries an integral part of her charity work, she puts 40 to 60 hours a week into the food rescue organization, on top of working full-time to pay her bills.

There are also misconceptions about small organizations that do non-profit work.

鈥淢ost people have the understanding that we are all given money, we all have an operating budget, we should absolutely be obligated to feed these people. What they don鈥檛 understand is that it takes the kindness of a community to continue to run these organizations,鈥� she said.

Again, the question of who helps those who help others looms large.

鈥淲hen the community has the mindset that they don鈥檛 have to worry and look after any of the smaller organizations, then we鈥檙e all by ourselves. Who鈥檚 looking out for us?鈥� asks Lynn.

Lynn says a lot of the smaller organizations band together when they need help, 鈥渂ecause they understand that that鈥檚 what community is, it takes all of us joining arms together to feed our community and to look after it.鈥�

Echoing Hedlund, she says 鈥減eople are seen as things, instead of humans.鈥�

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Clary Lausnes and her husband have operated the All Are Family Outreach Society since 2014, serving individuals and families in need of help from Armstrong to 琉璃神社.

One of the major challenges the society has faced of late is securing a building to house donated goods. Money aside, it鈥檚 a challenge that stems from the stigma attached to the people they help.

鈥淲e go to try and find a building and what we hear is, 鈥榳ell we don鈥檛 want those kind of people next to us,鈥欌�� Lausnes said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 this idea that anybody that uses a food bank is an addicted, dirty, homeless thief, and while we don鈥檛 turn away street people, our main group of people that we help is seniors and families. But we just can鈥檛 get over this stigmatism that is out in the general public that people that come into food banks are lower than the lowest.鈥�

Lausnes has seen it all while operating the outreach. She鈥檚 had people try to blackmail them into giving them what they want, and has dealt with people becoming physically violent and throwing things at them.

鈥淎nd yet we鈥檙e expected just to sit and smile because we鈥檙e a charity and we have to be nice.鈥�

She doesn鈥檛 do it for financial gain or recognition, as there鈥檚 none to be had. She does it because she cares about people.

Lausnes says Canadian pension rates need to go up, as she sees too many seniors living destitute.

鈥淚 have seniors that go to the grocery store and just stand in the produce aisle and cry,鈥� she said.

Lynn and Hedlund both identify with feelings of isolation in their roles as providers for their communities. For Lausnes, it鈥檚 more of an emotional fatigue from working with people in tragic life circumstances.

鈥淲e deal with things like suicide and child abuse and marital abuse and mental health issues and hungry seniors,鈥� she said. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e lucky you can leave it behind at work, but who can leave three hungry children and just go home and forget about it? That doesn鈥檛 happen.

鈥淭he isolation I experience is more of a lack of understanding from the public that we are just humans,鈥� she added, again reflecting the sentiments of Hedlund and Lynn.

Financial struggles are common among all of the small non-profit operators. Lausnes says donations have dropped 鈥渕ajorly,鈥� and All Are Family Outreach gave out $300 more in donations than it took in, a deficit that came out of their own pockets and one that鈥檚 not sustainable. Hedlund has contacted real estate companies and car dealerships to see if they鈥檙e willing to sponsor her Christmas hampers, to no avail. Lynn is in need of a refrigerated vehicle, or even just access to one, but has had no luck to date.

The non-profits rely on donations from the community to keep going. To donate to Hedlund, email crystalsbakedblessings@gmail.com. To support Lynn, email fooditforwardokanagan@gmail.com. To donate to Lausnes, email aafoutreach@hotmail.com.

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