While some personal service providers in Elliot Lake and elsewhere have been forced to shut down or greatly reduce their operating levels during the COVID-19 pandemic, others have found their services in greater demand.
One of them is the City of Elliot Lake's Age Friendly Delivers program which has allowed local seniors to order groceries on the phone or online and have them delivered to their doors with no service charge.
The program was initiated by the city in March 2020 just as the COVID-19 pandemic spread.
On March 8 this year, City Council voted to extend the service for people over 70 by another three months to the end of June. There is a limit of 20 items per order and payment can be made online on the city's website.
As reported earlier by ElliotLakeToday, Age Friendly Delivery is overseen by the city's economic development department, has one dedicated delivery person and is supported by two people from the recreation and culture department who take orders. The treasury department processes and logs invoices, payments and program statistics.
The program allows local seniors to order groceries by phone or online and have them delivered to their door by a delivery person whose wages are paid by the city.
It also helps vulnerable seniors to avoid areas with potential for COVID-19 exposure
Age Friendly Delivery normally operates Monday to Friday.
In making the extension request, Elliot Lake's Manager, Economic Development, Ashten Vlahovich, cited cases of COVID-19 in Elliot Lake, Algoma and neighbouring Sudbury regions that demonstrated the ongoing risk of continued exposure and community spread.
Elliot Lake Family Health Team member Dr. Cathy Groh has since observed that nearly one-quarter of the city's population has so far received the COVID-19 vaccine, with the mass vaccination program running again this week by registration and age-based appointments.
Along with that, customers of Shopper's Drug Mart in Ontario can now go online to book an appointment and then come into the store to receive a vaccine there.
Margaret Bodri is the owner/operator of Happyhour Delivery Service which has been in business in Elliot Lake since April 2015. Her company delivers beer, alcohol, fast food and groceries to anyone who wants her service. Happyhour does not set a limit on the number of items in an order.
"It's been a challenging year but we look forward to continuing to provide this service as long as it is needed and are hoping to expand into the Blind River / Algoma Mills area in the near future," she said.
Bodri and her one employee normally provide delivery service from merchants to people's homes, seven days a week.
"Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, business has increased by about 40 per cent," she said.
"With several lockdowns and people being encouraged to work from and stay at home as much as possible, we received more calls for delivery from businesses that were only able to offer curbside pickups.
"Myself and my employee continue to work through this pandemic as we are considered an essential service so needless to say, we are very exhausted.
"We are often doing upwards of 30 plus deliveries a day in a seven-hour shift."
Not excluding holidays when stores aren't open, that's approximately 11,020 orders in the past year.
Bodri went on, "I have had to increase my operating costs by providing PPE equipment of masks, gloves and hand sanitizer for me and my employee's safety.
"My delivery times have become longer as stores have limited the number of customers allowed inside at one time. Due to lineups at the grocery stores, I had to increase my grocery delivery price as we often have to pay someone to assist in the grocery shopping for us as we are so busy.
"I also had to offer contactless payment for customers by offering e-transfers," concluded Bodri.
There are also a number of other local businesses, restaurants and food service providers which provide Elliot Lake residents with home delivery or assistance via curbside pickup.
All along, people have sought out the services of Canada Post and various other courier delivery firms to have products delivered to their doors.
With no end in sight to the Ontario government's sanctions and emergency brake measures in the fight against COVID-19, the personal delivery services field appears to be in for a continued business boom.