Weather's milder today but we'll open again tonight. Only seven guests stayed the night, down from twelve the previous night, a confirmation from the street that the weather outside is more tolerable. We had 3 more join us for dinner only and two for breakfast only.
At the St Alban drop-in centre yesterday daytime, we also had a good turnout: 10 people, so St Alban is a very popular spot these days.
Last evening, the lounge was in use by a regular weekly meeting and the hall was booked for a strata AGM, so we served dinner upstairs in the drop-in centre and carried the food from the kitchen out the back door, around the building and up the back stairs. Grace kept it simple for easy transportation: chili con carne, veggies and homemade corn bread muffins.
Tonight we have the weekly Community Meal at St Alban, serving approx. 150 people, and we usually gain a guest or two who decide to bunk down with us after a big meal.
Tomorrow night looks borderline for opening. I"m guessing we'll close but we'll decide in the morning.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Update from the midst of a January cold snap
It seems Ontario has decided so export some of their winter weather this way, as we've had sub-zero temperatures for three nights (down to -5 last night) while my hometown of London, Ontario was at +12 yesterday.
Eleven guests spent the night with us last night, including one woman with her partner, plus two more who dropped in for a while: "Roy" who walked over with "Bud" , wanting to make sure his friend made it safely to the shelter and a fellow who didn't plan to stay with us, but asked if he could stay for a meal. "Roy" isn't housed, but he prefers to bunker down in his own corner of the world -- it used to be in a washroom, but now a stairwell in a building with a friendly landlord who allows him to spend his nights there. All he wanted was a pair of socks ("white, please") and off he went.
In addition to a near-full house of guests, our supporting cast brought the total to over twenty people who gathered together for the evening: volunteers Richard, Jiff and Dave prepared a fantastic meal under Grace's guidance (shepherd's pie -- that one guest said could be on the menu in any restaurant -- he had three platefuls of it, plus bread pudding made with blueberries and topped with custard). Jean and Dianne dropped by to socialize and Dianne also brings her nursing skills into practice. Rounding things out were staffers Hugh and Anneliese (who brought her dog Luna) and me. The atmosphere was warm and cordial and it felt good to be there.
Many of our guests know each other from the street, and this generally contributes to the pleasant ambiance (although they aren't all best buddies). We have a few guests who are new to the shelter this year (and some new to being homeless) and all have found their comfort zone, which is great to see.
Earlier in the day, a group of girl guides dropped off about thirty pairs of jeans they'd collected for the shelter. This is the second year in a row they've come by with gifts -- last year they made mittens and delivered them. When they asked what they could do this year, I suggested a used jean drive as our guests are always looking for jeans -- their pants often get soiled and wet and jeans are hard to dry, but it's the pants of choice for most folks, including people who are homeless, so that's what we get them. The guides created display boxes and placed them at local community centres, then rounded them up and brought them in.
I toured the girls around, showed them the sleeping/dining hall, the mats and pillows and blankets and the kitchen, explained what we do, who comes to the shelter, how much the jeans will be appreciated by our guests -- especially knowing they were collected by a group of girl guides. It is so wonderful when children show they care through these purposeful acts of kindness. And by placing boxes in community centres, it spreads the word that we have many people in need in our community. Dave and I labelled all the jeans with sizes while most of our guests crowded around for a pair. Everyone found a pair that fit them.
We also took down the Christmas tree down (in about a tenth of the time it took to put it up), persuaded it back into its box and hauled it over to its storage place in the back of the church. Christmas and New Year's isn't a great time of year for many of our guests, many of whom are estranged from their families, so for them it's a time to get back to a more normal season. One of our new guests saw his two daughters over Christmas -- first time in fifteen years -- and he was very grateful for that. He's been living out of his car for the last while after his business collapsed (and another guest, who's 67, is living out of his van) and will be looking for work starting tomorrow. He's one of those people who has a positive outlook on life and he's hopeful that 2013 will be better than last year.
And that sums up my simple wish for all of our guests -- that this year will be better than last. You might think that someone who spent 2012 homeless would have a good chance of having a better year this year (what could be a worse?) but change is hard, as anyone who sets New Year's resolutions will attest and especially hard for someone stuck in a lifestyle that involves homelessness. As a person who is homeless and destitute, even if you do decide to make a change, how do you make it happen? How do find a job or a home or reunite with family, when you are starting with so little? How to you keep hopeful?
I wish I had the answers. For now, I hope our shelter is providing some respite, some nourishment, some comfort and rest, some companionship, some love, some hope that things can and will get better.
Eleven guests spent the night with us last night, including one woman with her partner, plus two more who dropped in for a while: "Roy" who walked over with "Bud" , wanting to make sure his friend made it safely to the shelter and a fellow who didn't plan to stay with us, but asked if he could stay for a meal. "Roy" isn't housed, but he prefers to bunker down in his own corner of the world -- it used to be in a washroom, but now a stairwell in a building with a friendly landlord who allows him to spend his nights there. All he wanted was a pair of socks ("white, please") and off he went.
In addition to a near-full house of guests, our supporting cast brought the total to over twenty people who gathered together for the evening: volunteers Richard, Jiff and Dave prepared a fantastic meal under Grace's guidance (shepherd's pie -- that one guest said could be on the menu in any restaurant -- he had three platefuls of it, plus bread pudding made with blueberries and topped with custard). Jean and Dianne dropped by to socialize and Dianne also brings her nursing skills into practice. Rounding things out were staffers Hugh and Anneliese (who brought her dog Luna) and me. The atmosphere was warm and cordial and it felt good to be there.
Many of our guests know each other from the street, and this generally contributes to the pleasant ambiance (although they aren't all best buddies). We have a few guests who are new to the shelter this year (and some new to being homeless) and all have found their comfort zone, which is great to see.
Earlier in the day, a group of girl guides dropped off about thirty pairs of jeans they'd collected for the shelter. This is the second year in a row they've come by with gifts -- last year they made mittens and delivered them. When they asked what they could do this year, I suggested a used jean drive as our guests are always looking for jeans -- their pants often get soiled and wet and jeans are hard to dry, but it's the pants of choice for most folks, including people who are homeless, so that's what we get them. The guides created display boxes and placed them at local community centres, then rounded them up and brought them in.
I toured the girls around, showed them the sleeping/dining hall, the mats and pillows and blankets and the kitchen, explained what we do, who comes to the shelter, how much the jeans will be appreciated by our guests -- especially knowing they were collected by a group of girl guides. It is so wonderful when children show they care through these purposeful acts of kindness. And by placing boxes in community centres, it spreads the word that we have many people in need in our community. Dave and I labelled all the jeans with sizes while most of our guests crowded around for a pair. Everyone found a pair that fit them.
We also took down the Christmas tree down (in about a tenth of the time it took to put it up), persuaded it back into its box and hauled it over to its storage place in the back of the church. Christmas and New Year's isn't a great time of year for many of our guests, many of whom are estranged from their families, so for them it's a time to get back to a more normal season. One of our new guests saw his two daughters over Christmas -- first time in fifteen years -- and he was very grateful for that. He's been living out of his car for the last while after his business collapsed (and another guest, who's 67, is living out of his van) and will be looking for work starting tomorrow. He's one of those people who has a positive outlook on life and he's hopeful that 2013 will be better than last year.
And that sums up my simple wish for all of our guests -- that this year will be better than last. You might think that someone who spent 2012 homeless would have a good chance of having a better year this year (what could be a worse?) but change is hard, as anyone who sets New Year's resolutions will attest and especially hard for someone stuck in a lifestyle that involves homelessness. As a person who is homeless and destitute, even if you do decide to make a change, how do you make it happen? How do find a job or a home or reunite with family, when you are starting with so little? How to you keep hopeful?
I wish I had the answers. For now, I hope our shelter is providing some respite, some nourishment, some comfort and rest, some companionship, some love, some hope that things can and will get better.
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Early season stats
A few stats from the season so far: we've been open 11 nights,with as many as 11 guests in one night. We've hosted 18 different guests this year, including six who have never stayed at our shelter before, at least two of whom have never stayed in any shelter before. In total, 57 bednights, representing 171 meals prepared and served with care, thanks to our wonderful volunteers.
Friday, December 21, 2012
Three night activation 18-20 Dec 2012
Shelter closing tonight after three nights activation. Five guests last night, although for the first time in the past 3 seasons, we had no one for dinner. So volunteers and staff enjoyed a wonderful meal of rice, chicken, veggies and brownies.
One fellow arrived before dinner, but wanted to sleep and the next guest didn't arrive till 9 pm. This is one indicator that conditions are not that extreme. On the extremely cold nights, we have lineups at the door by 6 pm. So, while it's always a bit tough to close, our guests should be fine. Two of the fellows are heading back to Vancouver where there are lots of shelter spaces available and where they've stayed before our shelter opened (they prefer to stay here in Richmond). Another is returning to sleep in his semi-trailer cab (he's a long haul truck driver who lives out of his truck). And I'm not sure about the other two. Richmond house is full and at least one is waitlisted with them.
Thanks to volunteers who helped this activation: Elisabeth, Kathe, Jamie, Bon, Diane, Rusty, Poy-yuk, Evie, Vickie, Hal, Jerry, Don, Joan, Helen, Jean and Lynn.
Merry Christmas and best wishes. We'll be open any night during the holiday period that the weather is extreme. We've put aside some stuffing and gravy from Tuesdays' Community Meal and bring it out the nearest day to Christmas opening.
One fellow arrived before dinner, but wanted to sleep and the next guest didn't arrive till 9 pm. This is one indicator that conditions are not that extreme. On the extremely cold nights, we have lineups at the door by 6 pm. So, while it's always a bit tough to close, our guests should be fine. Two of the fellows are heading back to Vancouver where there are lots of shelter spaces available and where they've stayed before our shelter opened (they prefer to stay here in Richmond). Another is returning to sleep in his semi-trailer cab (he's a long haul truck driver who lives out of his truck). And I'm not sure about the other two. Richmond house is full and at least one is waitlisted with them.
Thanks to volunteers who helped this activation: Elisabeth, Kathe, Jamie, Bon, Diane, Rusty, Poy-yuk, Evie, Vickie, Hal, Jerry, Don, Joan, Helen, Jean and Lynn.
Merry Christmas and best wishes. We'll be open any night during the holiday period that the weather is extreme. We've put aside some stuffing and gravy from Tuesdays' Community Meal and bring it out the nearest day to Christmas opening.
Monday, December 10, 2012
Dec 8, 9 activation
We're closing tonight after a two day activation. Seven guests last night, although 1 left after dinner and 2 arrived just before breakfast. Two people new to the shelter, including one woman, our first woman of this season.
We closed out with a mega-breakfast, like we've never served before and it was all consumed like I've never seen before. It started innocently enough -- we planned to serve porridge (three of the volunteers are from Scotland, so that was a given) and pancakes, but I then I decided to add a protein, so we scrambled a dozen eggs. I pretty much knew we'd be closing, so we emptied the fridge of leftovers: fried up potatoes and ham from last night, heated up a large bowl of baked beans from yesterday's breakfast, made toast of the bread that wouldn't survive another day. We set out a bowl of yogurt and berries from last night's desert and sliced oranges. After all that was polished off, someone asked if we had any more cheerios left from yesterday's breakfast! We did and served him a bowlful. So heartwarming to see the contented look on people's faces as they ate what for many would be their only hot meal of the day. Two left pushing shopping carts, two on bikes and the others on foot.
I just now finished my rounds of taking down the extreme weather posters at the bottle depots and saw two of our guests, one sitting on the sidewalk out front of Brighouse station, panhandling, and the other riding his bike with a few cans he'd already collected. I'm glad their bellies are full of nourishing food.
Thanks to everyone who participated the past two days: coming in and cooking, socializing, cleaning up and those standing by for the next time we open up -- your efforts and presence really makes a difference in our guests' lives.
Best wishes to all and Happy Hanukkah. (I will save my Merry Christmas, hoping we'll open again near the 25th.)
We closed out with a mega-breakfast, like we've never served before and it was all consumed like I've never seen before. It started innocently enough -- we planned to serve porridge (three of the volunteers are from Scotland, so that was a given) and pancakes, but I then I decided to add a protein, so we scrambled a dozen eggs. I pretty much knew we'd be closing, so we emptied the fridge of leftovers: fried up potatoes and ham from last night, heated up a large bowl of baked beans from yesterday's breakfast, made toast of the bread that wouldn't survive another day. We set out a bowl of yogurt and berries from last night's desert and sliced oranges. After all that was polished off, someone asked if we had any more cheerios left from yesterday's breakfast! We did and served him a bowlful. So heartwarming to see the contented look on people's faces as they ate what for many would be their only hot meal of the day. Two left pushing shopping carts, two on bikes and the others on foot.
I just now finished my rounds of taking down the extreme weather posters at the bottle depots and saw two of our guests, one sitting on the sidewalk out front of Brighouse station, panhandling, and the other riding his bike with a few cans he'd already collected. I'm glad their bellies are full of nourishing food.
Thanks to everyone who participated the past two days: coming in and cooking, socializing, cleaning up and those standing by for the next time we open up -- your efforts and presence really makes a difference in our guests' lives.
Best wishes to all and Happy Hanukkah. (I will save my Merry Christmas, hoping we'll open again near the 25th.)
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