Med students operate volunteer grocery delivery service for vulnerable populations

Inderdeep Mander and Ria Rana are second-year medical students from the University of Alberta. In an effort to support people in their community who may not be able to shop for themselves during the COVID-19 pandemic, the two co-founded Bag-Half-Full, a volunteer-run grocery shopping and delivery service.

Vulnerable people who are in need of groceries can place an order online with their local store and a volunteer will pick it up and deliver it to them, or they can provide Bag-Half-Full with a list of needed items and a volunteer will do their shopping and bring it to their home safely. There is no cost for delivery – all the client pays for is their groceries. Volunteers will also pick up and deliver prescription medications.

Medical students from several other cities have also gotten involved, allowing Bag-Half-Full to operate in Lethbridge, Ottawa, and Victoria as well. The Edmonton and Ottawa groups have set up GoFundMe pages to help them reimburse student volunteers for gas expenses.

Source: Bag-Half-Full