Non-profits work together to keep homeless warm and fed during Manitoba cold snap
Dangerously cold weather and COVID-related closures leave agencies, individuals scrambling to stay warm
With the wind chill below –40, the province's most vulnerable have been left scrambling to find safety and warmth for survival at a time when fewer places are open because of COVID-19 public health restrictions.
Klinic Community Health on Sherbrook is seeing a significant increase in the number of people coming through its doors.
Ayn Wilcox, Klinic's director of Health and Community Services, says people are coming in wanting more than health services — they want a place to warm up and to get some emergency supplies.
"We just don't have the space to allow people to stay for a long time. We aren't a shelter or a warming space but we know there aren't a lot of options with COVID and when it is this cold, we want to be warm and welcoming. We set them up in a little bit of space where they can change their socks and warm their feet," said Wilcox.
Klinic is asking for donations of emergency supplies such as hygiene products, toques, socks and any warm clothing. The donations can be dropped off at their new location.
Transportation is key
At Samaritan House Ministries in Brandon, staff are expecting all 22 shelter beds to fill up as the cold days continue.
While donations of food are always welcome, transporting clients to and from the shelter and food bank is the biggest challenge, according to executive director Barbara McNish.
"One of the biggest requests we get is a way to provide transportation so people don't have to come out in the cold for their hampers or to come to the shelter. We don't have a van and we don't have enough staffing to make deliveries. So it may mean they come the next day or a neighbour does the pick up," said McNish.
Over the weekend in Winnipeg, Spence Neighbourhood Association and Main Street Project stepped in and provided vans to transport people to a shelter.
More than two dozen people were moved from 1JustCity on Pulford Street after the shelter lost power during renovations. The Salvation Army offered up its chapel so all 30 people would have a warm, safe place to sleep.
The shelter is looking for more volunteers along with donations of mitts and toques.
Monday night, clients were moved into the sanctuary at 1JustCity which is warmer and not in an area under construction. Expedited work is being done to bring the heat back up to what it should be, according to Tessa Whitecloud, the shelter's executive director.
A mission close to his heart
But it's not just agencies and non- profits that are doing their part to make sure no one is left out in the cold. Individuals are stepping up too.
Ron Eldridge and his wife run Devoted to You Street Ministries out of their vehicle in Portage la Prairie. Day and night, they have been scouring streets, looking for people experiencing homelessness, offering a kind word of encouragement, handing out coats, sweaters, gloves, hot coffee and Tim Horton's gift cards.
For Eldridge, it's a mission close to his heart. He spent 13 years on the streets in his younger days, when he was transient and homeless.
"These people are very dear to my heart. I know what they need and what they are going through. They are part of me," said the 60-year-old retiree.
He says his life turned around when a woman helped him by putting him up at a rooming house decades ago. Ten years later, that woman became his wife. The couple has been committed to helping the most vulnerable every since.
Eldridge says it warms his heart to see how non-profits across the province are banding together to make sure no one is left out in the cold.
"That's what will get us through this, through this cold snap and COVID. People caring for and helping each other," he said.
