By Jack Brittle, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Phyllis Alcantara-Zgirta started the Facebook group Burlington’s Community Kindness Connections during the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to keep residents in touch during isolation and quarantine.
Today, the group has over 3,100 members and acts as a community hub for charitable initiatives and organizations of all kinds.
During lockdown, Alcantara-Zgirta started a nutrition program, initially running it out of her driveway.
“It grew pretty big,” Alcantara-Zgirta said. “So I asked North Burlington Baptist church if we could use their parking lot instead.”
The biweekly program is still running and now offers some essentials and hygiene products as well as food.
“Now my program has grown to sending food to the unhoused,” she said. “I have a team that goes out and delivers food, clothing, footwear, or whatever you might need.”
She said that the group also often organizes contests for which community partners donate prizes.
“It could be a restaurant night or a spa day, something like that,” she said. “So the nice thing is that we get to know families in the community and help them without them having to ask, or it being a big deal. There are just ways of handling things and maintaining dignity at the same time.”
Alcantara-Zgirta’s upbringing shaped her desire to give back.
“I was born in poverty, and there were different people, at different times in my life, that showed me kindness,” she said.
She is a financial coach with Christians Against Poverty, which provides advice to people experiencing debt and financial difficulties. She also provides peer support for Wellspring Cancer Support and grief support with Acclaim Health.
Alcantara-Zgirta often receives calls about community members in need and does her best to come to their aid.
“I’ll get calls from people who have things that they want to give away,” she said. “Last week I got a call about this young man who was having challenges getting clothing and supplies for his children for school, so I did that. Somebody then texted me later on and said, ‘Hey, I’ve got two beds that anybody can have if they want them.’ I checked with that same person in need, and they were so happy to be able to have one of those beds.”
“Somehow, random things come to me,” she continued. “I don’t know how, but the want is there.”
Alcantara-Zgirta is currently writing a memoir entitled The Life That Survival Built: What Survival Taught Me — and What It Could Not. The book will focus on her personal experience with poverty and perseverance, and how she learned to take care of herself as well as others.
“Survival could teach me…to get through, to negotiate and to tackle anything,” she said. “It taught me to be on guard and pay attention, all those things. But now it’s a quieter season, and I have no clue what to do with myself.”
Alcantara-Zgirta went on a meditation tour and a five-day silent retreat, and eventually decided to give herself 40 days to step back from her usual responsibilities and focus on herself.
“I’m still in the middle of learning how to live without all the crisis,” she said. “I started realizing that I don’t know what I want or what I like. When I started writing my life down, I began to see where all of this kindness and proactivity has come from.”
Alcantara-Zgirta said that she isn’t good at sitting still or dealing with “difficult feelings” because she only felt valuable when doing something useful. Despite this, she enjoys bringing people together and creating kindness in an uncertain world.
“I want to be a part of a difference rather than complaining about what’s happening,” she said.
When she applied to Royal Roads University later in life, Michael Rowe, the manager of network operations at the Halton District School Board, wrote a reference letter on her behalf.
Rowe said that Alcantara-Zgirta “lives for others.”
“If you open her garage door on Monday morning, you might brand her a hoarder,” Rowe said. “But by Friday afternoon, every bag of clothes will be on the back of a needy person, every pair of shoes on their feet, every painting on the wall of a new house owner, and every toy in the room of a child whose parents have fallen on hard times.”
Alcantara-Zgirta said that the revised manuscript is now approximately 60,000 words and that she is currently completing the final copyedit.
“An experienced publishing professional who previously reviewed the manuscript has invited me to resubmit the revised version,” she said. “I have also begun making selected publishing-industry contacts.”
Alcantara-Zgirta can be contacted about the book at phylal@gmail.com. To join Burlington’s Community Kindness Connections Facebook group, click here.
