SASKATOON -- Candace Fiddler is one of the administrators on the Helping Hands Facebook page, where requests or offers for items are posted.

She and her sister manage between 100 and 200 posts a day which takes about five hours a day to manage.

She’s happy to give that time to those in need.

Fiddler says the one difference they are seeing since the pandemic started is that requests from single dads have increased in the past year. They’ve seen a 30 per cent increase in followers since then.

“It was overwhelming at the start of the pandemic. There was a lot of people in need before they heard about CERB, so the page boomed quite a bit then,” Fiddler told CTV News.

She says they do their best to ensure the requests are legitimate, but have to turn down about three a day if they seem suspicious.

Over the Rainbow is a Saskatoon based Facebook page where followers post requests for anything from diapers to furniture or food.

The page rules state all items must be free.

Freecycle and Buy Nothing Saskatoon are also similar pages.

Some posts add personal details like losing a job or that they are between pay cheques.

The Never Hungry site, which offers food, has seen an expansion recently with 400 more members joining.

They’ve even had inquiries from Prince Albert where they started a similar page in the past few weeks which is called Daisy’s Cupboard.

An inquiry has also come in from Rosetown where followers there are also looking to start up a food page according to the administrator in Saskatoon Bo Blackmon.

He said since a story on their group story aired on CTV News, the number of followers who are solely “giving” has gone up, meaning they can help more people in Saskatoon.

“We are averaging an hour before someone responds to a request. It’s happening pretty fast now,” Blackmon told CTV News.

All of the Facebook pages have strict guidelines and rules pertaining to COVID-19 distancing as well as basic safety protocol to follow.