Making Room to Breathe: Supporting Families Across Prince Edward Island

Just five minutes from the airport in Charlottetown sits an unassuming storage facility. Inside, furniture, clothing, food items and other essential goods are gathered, sorted and shared to support individuals and families across the Island — part of the organization’s commitment to making a difference through everyday acts of kindness.  

“From tip to tip,” Betty Begg-Brooks, founder of Gifts from the Heart Inc., explained, describing the reach of the organization’s work across Prince Edward Island. “We have 3,500 families that access our services, plus three community fridges.”

Betty has spent her entire adult life helping others. She turns 80 this year, and for more than six decades she has been making sure people in her community have what they need.

“She doesn’t want to see hungry people,” Scott Wakeland, a volunteer who described himself as “basically a gopher,” said.  

Scott understands firsthand how difficult it can be to ask for help.

“I’ve been there,” Scott explained, “[Asking for help was the] toughest thing I’ve ever done … I didn’t need help long, but I needed help. And if you can help someone else, you pay back.”

For many in the community, Gifts from the Heart has become a place people turn to when help is needed.

“Gifts from the Heart is this local, central hub, where if something happens in the community, people aren’t wondering what they’re going to do to help.” Jordan MacPhee , volunteer board member and owner of Maple Bloom Farms, shared. “They know if there’s a crisis happening or there’s a recurring issue like food insecurity in PEI, that they’re the ones working with people in the community.”

That sense of community support runs deep across the Island.

“It’s an Island of givers and carers,” said Leigh Reed, vice president of Gifts from the Heart.

Still, he added, the organization faces ever-increasing challenges.

“We’re in a growth industry. When you are outgrowing buildings, when you are outgrowing the volume of food you can supply, the volume of love you can supply, that makes it really difficult,” he said.

For Leigh, that rising demand points to a larger issue that needs attention beyond the organization’s scope.  

“There’s nothing exciting to say we have to provide for more and more people,” he shared. “That’s one of the biggest discussions we keep having with government.”

On Prince Edward Island, more than 24% of the population — about 43,000 Islanders — live in households struggling to afford enough food, a staggering burden in a small, tightly-knit province. Food bank use has surged by nearly 84% since 2019, the largest increase in Atlantic Canada.  

A partnership with Second Harvest, beginning in 2020, has helped expand the organization’s ability to meet that growing need.

“It’s life-saving in many ways,” Leigh explained. “You can’t put a value on a partnership like this. When it keeps coming and coming, and giving and giving and giving, and we can pass on that to anybody and everybody, that’s the value of it. A partnership is something you work together on for a common goal.”

Volunteers help make that work possible every day.

“If [Betty] needs a hand here or there, I usually come running,” Bryce Arsenault, a dedicated volunteer, shared. “Anything she needs I’d be happy to do for her.”

His admiration for Betty and the organization’s ability to provide is clear.  

“I don’t think people that have never been hungry understand,” he said. “If you haven’t missed meals or not been able to feed your kids, I don’t think you can understand how much she really does for people. What greater calling is there than feeding children, feeding people? There’s so many people out there choosing heat or food. Our government isn’t doing enough, but Betty is. [She] works a hundred hours a week to try and help people feed their kids.”  

“You can see on some people’s faces that they don’t want to be here,” Bryce added. “Something’s broken. The food prices in our country are not right. There’s people coming through the door that are in need, and thank God this place is here.”

Bryce regularly drives donations from Gifts from the Heart’s main location to community fridges across the Island. Recently, he’s arrived to find empty fridges, and people waiting.  

“People are so grateful that I come with nutritious food, the odd sweets, milk, baby food and just things people need — diapers,” Bryce shared.  

Since joining Second Harvest’s network, Gifts from the Heart has rescued and distributed 104,400 lbs of good food, getting it to people who need it across the Island.

“If we can take one thing off their bottom line that enables them just to breathe, then we have done our job.” Leigh reflected. “More than that, it’s about letting them know that they’re not alone. Everyone is important that comes through that door.”