Closed until further notice

With the rain in the forecast this week comes higher temperatures, and that means we will be closed for the near future.

If you're wondering how you can help the next time we open, email innfromthecoldrichmond@gmail.com

If you are needing shelter tonight, dial 2-1-1. If your safety is in danger, dial 9-1-1.

Welcome back Grace!

For the last three nights, we've had Frances guest starring in our kitchen making hot comfort food for our guests, like an amazing shepherd's pie, and a new homemade soup every night!

We now have our usual cook, Grace, back for the rest of this week while we are open. Welcome back, Grace, and thanks for doing an amazing job filling in, Frances!

Open until Wednesday Night

We're going to be open this week until at least Wednesday night. Stay tuned for updates as we get closer to that, as there is a chance we'll continue to open after that.

One more night!

Due to an exceptional circumstance, we are open tonight at 7. Feel free to also join us for our community meal, open to everyone, at 6pm.

Shelter closed due to improved temperatures

Hello!

The most recent forecast has the temperature above the minimum required for us to open, so until further notice the extreme weather shelter is closed.

We would like to thank all our staff, volunteers, and guests who have made the Inn from the Cold such a welcoming place these past 6 nights. Last night, we had 13 guests, including two couples and one pregnant woman, who would have been unable to find accommodation anywhere else in Richmond.

Thanks to the great work of our shelter staff, many guests are now aware of resources available in the city, and some are on their way to start to access long term housing and recovery programs.

Please check back often for updates. The shelter operator voice mail and this blog will be updated when we open next.

If you have any questions about the program until the next opening, call the shelter operator at 604-315-5705. If you need shelter for tonight, please dial 2-1-1. If your health or safety is at risk, please do not hesitate to dial 9-1-1.

We're open tonight!

We're opening our doors at 7pm tonight for the first time this season!

We'll also be open tomorrow night (Thursday), and will confirm for Friday a little later on.

Any questions, call the Shelter Operator phone at 604-315-5705

Cold weather headed our way!

Looks like winter will be arriving soon in the lower mainland!

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/cold-snap-bringing-freezing-temperatures-to-b-c-1.2829990

Check back here to find out when we'll be open. If you need a place to stay tonight, call 2-1-1 anywhere in BC.

Welcome Inn From the Cold 2014 Volunteers!

We're excited to announce that our team of volunteers is all set up and ready to provide a warm, inviting space and some great food for anyone who needs it this winter!

Stay tuned to this blog for updates, and if you would like to help out or get involved, email innfromthecoldrichmond@gmail,com. If you are a volunteer and have not received a copy of the schedule, also email to be sent a link to access it.

Shelter season 2013 underway

The shelter opened for business Tuesday 19 Nov 2013.  If you'd like to volunteer, please call the shelter operator at 604-315-5705.

2012/2013 season wrap-up

The winter was quite mild this year and as a result the shelter was open only seventeen nights.   Twenty guests in total spent at least one night with us, eight of whom were new.  In total we had 43 bed nights, averaging 6.8 per night.  The average is slightly higher than last year (6.2 last year), primarily due to the fact that our partner shelter, Richmond House, did not receive the same funding as last year, so they sent more guests our way.

Shelter closing till next time

We're closing tonight now that milder weather has returned. Ten guests last night. One fellow found a permanent shelter at the Salvation Army in Langley this morning before he left and there are spaces elsewhere available.

 It was a good run of six nights with lots of guests each night, so plenty of meals to cook, lunches to pack, dishes to wash and mats and blankets to haul away. Our guests are very grateful for the service we provide and if you didn't hear it from them personally, I'm passing it on to you now. Yes, even the guy who occasionally barks at us for having salt in the oatmeal or wondering where his second helping of french toast is (as happened this morning) he eventually says thanks respectfully and genuinely.


Till next time, thanks from me.

Shelter supporters thanked

Here's a letter to the editor written by one of our shelter volunteers and published in Richmond News on January 9th.   Volunteer "E" should also be thanked as she was the person who took the initiative both times to approach Canadian Tire and ask for a donation.  The first time, we needed a new toaster and this time a new griddle as I dropped the one we'd been using and broke it.   

Shelter supporters thanked

RICHMOND NEWS JANUARY 9, 2013

The Editor,

Today is the second time the Canadian Tire store located in the Coppersmith Plaza on Steveston Highway in Richmond contributed to the St. Alban Extreme Weather Shelter. The donation of cooking equipment for preparing breakfast makes it easier for shelter staff and volunteers to provide nourishment for those citizens who are vulnerable to homelessness.

We are very appreciative of this generous gesture to support the shelter, which also provides warm clothing and a warm place to sleep during the cold winter nights.

Thank you to the good Samaritans at Canadian Tire and to the other merchants who support the shelter.

E. Michaud, On behalf of Inn From The Cold at St. Alban Richmond

Read more:http://www.richmond-news.com/news/Shelter+supporters+thanked/7794804/story.html#ixzz2I4zfHo5T

Temperatures up, shelter numbers down

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.)

Pausing to remember

Sunday, Nov 11 was one of those cold, grey days typical of Remembrance Day.   My wife Jan and I attended the service at the cenotaph, walking there from home to stand alongside people of all ages, outside in the elements,  pausing to remember the battles fought,  the lives lost,  and the peace we sometimes take for granted. It's a powerful experience that draws us back each year.

For many of those assembled, it was probably the coldest hour they'll spend all year.  Right after the ceremony, people hustled back to the warmth of their cars and homes.  I couldn't help thinking of our homeless citizens, knowing they spend the majority of their lives outside, battling the elements, battling poverty, with no warm home awaiting their return.    Many also battle addictions and mental illness, but unlike the wars our honoured vets fought, street battles rarely result in peace.  Lives are lost in the streets, not necessarily in the sense of death, but a loss of who they are or where they are going.  Fortunately, there's hope for those who wander the streets: hope they can find their way again through some life-altering change (housing is found, an addiction is in recovery, a mental illness stabilizes, a job is found) allowing them to return to a more normal life, with a warm home awaiting their return.

Until one of those life altering changes happens, one of the few hopes for a warm place to sleep is an extreme weather alert, and on this cold, wet Remembrance Day, that's exactly what happened.

Posters announcing the alert went up; shelter volunteers and staff were mustered; the furnace in the big hall at St Alban was fired up; sleeping mats and blankets were laid out and kitchen volunteers arrived and started filling the building with the aromas of homemade shepherd's pie and apple crumble.

So, at least for this one cold night in November, there was a warm place, a temporary home of sorts, for  a few of our street veterans.

I'm not suggesting we honour our street vets in the same way we honour our war vets, but I am suggesting we pause for a moment and remember the women and men who have no home and most likely are outside right now as you read this.

Familiar faces

Nov 1 marked the start of the extreme weather shelter season and we are all set to open once the temperature drops.   Most of our volunteers are returning from last year and we'll also be welcoming some new volunteers to the team -- we held an orientation session for new volunteers last week. Grace, our food coordinator, is back again, and all of our overnight staff and steering committee members are veterans from previous seasons.

In terms of returning guests, my expectation is that most guests will be new to the shelter this year, as was the case last season,  when 27 of the 36 guests we sheltered during the season were new.  At least nine of last year's guests are now in housing and likely more that I've lost touch with.  "Kip" has returned to work as a cook at a high-end restaurant at the airport.   "Dorothy" who had been living in a camper is now in a proper apartment.   "Will" is still in the basement suite he rented with "Maurice" last February, with a new roommate.  "Bud", "Buddy" and "Neil" are all sharing a house together with "Wally" from the previous season and two other formerly homeless individuals.   "Carlos" who used to be a teacher, and always wore a tie, sent us a nice letter thanking us for our hospitality along with a donation of $50 to the shelter.  

And sadly, two of last season's guests passed away earlier this year: "Maurice" at the age of 67 in February and "Milton" at the age of 56 in April.   Both were regulars at the shelter, both were an integral part of the community that formed each night we were open and both will be dearly missed.   We held a service for Maurice in March at St Alban Church and Milton's family held one for him, in June, in his hometown of London Ontario.  May they rest in peace.

Volunteer Training Workshop

Wed, Sept 26, we hosted a volunteer training workshop at the Richmond Food Bank.    The workshop familiarized volunteers with the community we serve, with an emphasis on communications, conflict resolution, mental health and addictions.

It was an excellent session, featuring five different speakers from local Richmond addictions and mental health organizations.

The session was originally aimed at volunteers for the new Drop-in Centre at St. Alban, but we decided the workshop would be extremely valuable to volunteers from organizations which target the same population as the drop-in centre.  So, we opened up the invite to volunteers from the Food Bank, where each week over 500 families file through this same room to pick up their groceries,  the weekly Community Meal at St Alban where over 150 folks are served dinner each week and the  Shelter  where dozens are given a warm place to sleep and hot meals each winter.

In all, over fifty volunteers filled the room and were treated to five excellent, heartfelt presentations from our guest speakers:

Barbara Bawlf - Vancouver Coastal Health/Richmond Mental Health Consumers and Friends

Rick Dubras - Richmond Addiction Services

Barbara Fee  - Canadian Mental Health Association

Danny Taylor - Richmond Addiction Services

Randy Vance - Vancouver Coastal Health

The evening was filled with compassion and warmth, something we hope our guests will feel at the shelter.