CWL ‘angels’ come to farmer’s rescue in pandemic outreach

One Abbotsford farmer found himself in a tough spot this daffodil season. Various pandemic restrictions prevented him from hiring the help he usually relied on in spring, and just as the flowers were ripe for the picking, he was 50 workers short.

He searched for last-minute, short-term help anywhere he could think of, and found some dedicated aides in the Catholic Women’s League.

Noli Buyco, president of the CWL council at St. Ann’s Parish, said when they got the phone call, members with zero experience in flower picking jumped on the idea to help a local farm in need.

“We brought some of our grandchildren, some brought their own children,” said Buyco. “One of the Carmelite nuns joined us, and she was very excited.”

Over a span of 10 days, the council supplied 15 volunteers aged 7 to 70. They worked slowly alongside skilled farm staff, laughing, talking, and praying the Rosary to help them keep track as they bunched daffodils in groups of 10.

In the short span, the CWL group collected more than 4,000 bunches of daffodils (over 40,000 stems) for export.

The farmer couldn’t have been happier. “He said he was so thankful because he feels the farm was blessed by our prayer,” said Buyco.

For their labour, the CWL received 25 cents a bunch, totalling more than $1,000, or about one-seventh of the council’s annual budget. It was a blessing for the parish at a time when CWL dinners, gatherings, and other ways of raising funds for charity have been off the table.

The farm also allowed the women to pick already-opened flowers for their own use. More than 200 bunches of opened flowers made their way to the church where they were blessed by priests and handed out to parishioners at Easter weekend Masses.

After all three Masses there were still flowers to spare, so the women made bright yellow deliveries to local health-care workers, hospice patients, teachers, first responders, and neighbours.

“It touched a lot of people,” said Buyco.

The CWL council at Corpus Christi Parish in Vancouver also has a passion for service and charity, typically running bake sales, Mother’s Day flower sales, and other events to support the council’s selected charities. Unfortunately when Khim Cheung became president at the start of the pandemic in 2020, all the typical fundraising methods her predecessors relied on weren’t an option.

“I was stuck with COVID right from the beginning,” she said. “It has been a lot of struggle to find out how we can raise funds. Every year we do donate quite a bit to charities.”

This year, she chose three beneficiaries: The Door is Open, the Downtown Eastside Vancouver drop-in centre that serves free meals to the poor and homeless; the Missionaries of Charity who minister to the vulnerable in the Downtown Eastside; and Covenant House, which serves at-risk youth.

Cheung decided to run a food drive, inviting parishioners to drop off non-perishable goods or cash donations at the parish when they came for Communion.

“If I can help the people that are living here locally that are starving, I want to do that,” Cheung said.

Despite not being able to announce the campaign to parishioners in a packed church every Sunday, donations began pouring in within weeks of putting a notice in the church bulletin. Each week, volunteers sorted through donated goods, tossed expired items, tallied cash donations, and arranged everything based on the needs of the three charities. Soon they had $2,669 and a pickup truck filled to the brim with boxes of food.

“It was amazing that we were able to do that despite COVID. It is through the grace of God.”

As Cheung rode along with the delivery truck, the multitude of homeless, drug-addicted, and impoverished people they passed did not escape her notice.

“We felt really good about the whole thing because I could see how much was needed out there,” she said. “It means so much to people living on the streets. It really made me feel like at least we were able to do something.”

The council also made several hundred dollars by selling handmade rosaries to parishioners, friends, and Catholic schools. Those funds will contribute to other annual projects, including a CWL bursary and donations to Domestic Abuse Services.

Just before COVID broke out last year, St. Helen’s CWL council in Burnaby was getting organized to assist with funerals, catering, and retreats. “The pandemic really knocked us off our feet,” said president Flavia Musso.  

CWL member Ruth Kustner started churning out homemade fabric masks and selling them to support the parish food bank. She raised $1,000 on mask sales alone.

In recent months, the council has also been baking goods for The Door is Open and promoting letter-writing campaigns for political and social justice issues including assisted suicide legislation.

Musso said the charitable and community projects were just as important as staying in touch with her 50-member strong CWL community. With many elderly members shut in at home, the executive team took steps to ensure no one was feeling abandoned.

“We tried the Zoom thing, but it was a bit of a challenge because our membership is on the older side,” she said. Instead, one member started a small outdoor exercise group, while another got busy writing and mailing cards to all members for Christmas, Easter, Mother’s Day, and birthdays.

Musso has been sending emails and making calls to inform the women about livestreamed Masses, novenas, and significant updates in the community such as the death of a member or member’s spouse, birth of a grandchild, or prayer requests in time of illness.

“A lot of these elderly are isolated. They don’t have a lot of family that live here. They want to know what’s going on,” said Musso. “If it wasn’t for me sharing this stuff, they wouldn’t know.”

It wasn’t quite what Musso expected for the 101st year of the CWL, which was founded in Canada in 1920, and she’s uncertain what the future will hold for her council, but she’s grateful to have weathered the storm so far.

One recipient of the CWL’s charity in the north Burnaby area had high praise for the food she receives from the CWL. The woman did not want to be named, but told The B.C. Catholic she and 21 other shut-in seniors receive weekly meals from a CWL member she calls a “hero.” 

“She is a blessing, she is a blessing to all the seniors,” she said. 

“Let the world know: during this pandemic, God sends angels to us.”