Young Seo (left) and James Bates started a volunteer group Helpful Neighbors in early March to help people during the COVID-19 pandemic (Image Credit: James Bates). *Note: this photo was taken prior to physical distancing guidelines

By Chad Klassen

HELPFUL NEIGHBORS

Pair of university students from Kamloops here to help during pandemic

Mar 30, 2020 | 4:31 PM

KAMLOOPS — When James Bates and Young Seo returned home to Kamloops from their respective universities in Ontario — after classes were cancelled due to COVID-19 — they knew they had to do something for the community in which they grew up.

The St. Ann’s Academy grads turned engineering students (Bates at the University of Waterloo, Seo at the University of Toronto) self-isolated for two weeks upon returning in early March. That’s when they brainstormed ideas on how to help.

“Things started to develop a little quicker out east, so when school was cancelled we came back here. As soon as we got back, we knew that things would start to get bad here eventually,” Bates noted. “So right away, we started working on creating this volunteer platform.”

The group is called Helpful Neighbor and they help people in need who can’t or don’t want to leave their home during the pandemic.

In the last three weeks, Bates and Seo have built up a list of people in need, mainly seniors. Bates started with his own grandma, who got the word out to her friends.

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“She didn’t want to go out, so I decided, ‘Well, I’ll go get groceries and pick up her prescriptions,'” Bates said. “It kind of started there and she spread the word to her friends. Then we reached out on Facebook to more of our community. We’ve been in several neighbourhood group chats. We’ve reached out to some friends at TRU, who have connections in the media.”

To date, the group has been simply picking up people’s groceries and prescriptions. But Bates says as the pandemic deepens, they have plans to expand their volunteerism.

“For example, mowing the lawn or some simple activities, we can always coordinate help in that way, too,” he said.

In a short time, the two have people from all over the city sending emails either needing help or wanting to volunteer.

“As word-of-mouth spreads and people start to gain trust and hear about what we’re doing a little more, I think our group will grow a lot larger,” said Bates.

A dozen of Bates and Seo’s former high school classmates from St. Ann’s have already stepped up and committed to helping. They’re all just doing their parts to help their hometown.

“We had such an amazing childhood here, and coming back and realizing we’re in the position, in this case, where we are quite a bit less at risk than most people,” he said. “So we saw that as an opportunity to give back to our community a little bit.”

If you’re interested in volunteering or need help getting essentials to your home, you can email the group at hnkamloops@gmail.com. You can also call James Bates directly at 250-819-3712.