Northern Ontario First Nation focuses on feeding families in the face of COVID-19

Volunteers scramble around grabbing cans off of shelves and sorting through bins of rhubarb.

They are checking items off someone else's shopping list.

The Miijim program in Atikameksheng Anishnawbekwas started in April to supply families in the First Nation just west of Sudbury with food.

"We didn't want it labelled as a food bank, because that wasn't the intent. We wanted to make sure our families were eating," says the community's education director Darlene Shawbonquit.

Miijim is the Ojibwe word for food and it is being provided to those who can't afford it and those worried about going to the local grocery store with COVID-19 spreading.

There are 110 families registered for the program and volunteers have so far filled 226 food boxes.

The Miijim program has taken over the community's library, with books shoved to the side and replaced with shelves full of canned goods, freezers full of meat and tables heaped with fresh fruit and vegetables.

"I like it," says program coordinator Lori Nootchtai.

"Serving the community. Making them happy."