For Cortney Barber, 2020’s impact began with a snowflake. Then another, and another.
Then a whole Snowmageddon.
Barber herself wasn’t dealing with the direct impacts of the Jan. 17 storm that brought hurricane-force winds and a record-setting 30 inches of snow in one day to the St. John’s area. A native of Avondale who grew up in the capital city, she was living in Alberta at the time, watching the weather reports and subsequent eight-day state of emergency unfold through the news and social media. Reading posts by friends and strangers back home, Barber tried to grasp the intensity of the situation, imagining how she’d be coping if she and her four children had been snowed in with no way out.
“Even for people who were able to get out, they didn’t always have a way to get what they needed. There were people who had money in the bank but almost every store was closed. I was seeing people post about not being able to get their medications, about running low on toilet paper or baby formula, about being barricaded inside their house altogether,” Barber says.
Barber had the idea to start a Facebook group to connect people who needed a hand with others who could help them, calling it “Neighbours in Need — Newfoundland.” By the end of the first day, 5,000 people had joined and a volunteer crew was established to respond to requests for help shovelling out. Those posting with requests for baby diapers or milk or tea received almost immediate replies from people offering to donate from their own cupboards, or make a specific trip to the grocery store for them. The original goal, Barber says, was to get people through the snowstorm, but the need to continue the effort became obvious.
Today the group has more than 11,000 members and has become an informal outreach project collective, with people donating their time, groceries, clothes and money to those needing a little help. People needing winter boots have been connected with people with second-hand boots to donate; leaky pipes and broken fences have been repaired through connections made on the Facebook page.
“It’s been amazing,” Barber says. “It’s always been very genuine, right from the start.”
Now living in B.C., Barber oversees the group between parenting and her job in network marketing. While she responds to all private messages and co-ordinates donations and interactions from afar, she has a team of about 50 other group moderators who manage the Facebook page, helping to connect people and quickly deleting any unnecessary comments.
About
- Name: Cortney Barber
- Age: 34
- Community: Avondale, N.L. native, living in Sparwood, B.C.
- Occupation: Network marketing, mother of four
Barber is the founder and administrator of Facebook group “Neighbours in Need — Newfoundland,” connecting people in need of a hand with people who can help them. From the other side of the country, she organizes things like hot meal delivery, grocery hampers, children’s items and other necessities for people finding themselves in a situation where they aren’t able to obtain them on their own.
What inspires her: A record-setting blizzard in her home province inspired Barber to establish the group; she says it’s the kindness and generosity of strangers and the gratitude and appreciation others express in return that inspire her to keep it going.
The team includes two cooks, she says, who each make one hot meal every week that’s delivered to 50 people in the St. John’s area.
“Thirty of them are our regular people that we help out every week and 20 are usually urgent, like people who are looking for a bit of help with groceries that week and we’re helping them with two meals in the meantime,” Barber explains.
Requests for money or bill payments aren’t permitted in the group, but there’s an email address where people can e-transfer funds that volunteers will then use to buy groceries and deliver them to those looking for them. They take pictures of the grocery carts, the receipts and the individually packaged hot meals and they post them for accountability.
Barber recently organized what she calls a Christmas Miracle sponsorship program, matching families in need with donors with the means to help make their Christmas magical. In the end, 125 families were sponsored by local individuals, families and businesses, including gifts, breakfast for Christmas morning and a full turkey dinner.
“I’m so thankful for what the group has done for me,” one woman tells The Telegram. “I don’t know how I would have managed Christmas for my kids this year, given all that’s gone on. I plan to give back to the group as soon as I’m able to.”
Barber sees that a lot — people on the receiving end of kindness through the group often contribute their own money or groceries when they’re in a position to do so, even if they don’t have much extra to spare.
Barber and her team are looking to make Neighbours in Need — Newfoundland more official and are hoping to establish themselves as a non-profit organization. She plans to keep the group going, spreading the kindness that began during Snowmaggedon and continued during a pandemic, all through social media.
Anyone could find themselves in a difficult situation at any time due to unexpected circumstances, she says, and she wants people to think before they judge others based on assumptions.
“We all have different needs,” she explains. “There are so many reasons why people in the group ask for help. We’ve had single moms needing formula that just can’t get out to get it. We’ve had professional people with jobs reach out to us and say they’ve been out of work due to COVID and they’re struggling. Someone might have been able to afford something two months ago but now find themselves in a different situation.
“The generosity just keeps coming and people are so grateful and appreciative. Never once have I felt ‘what am I doing this for?’ The kindness people give and the appreciation they get in return are what fuel me.”
