By Stephanie Mancini
Published in September 2020
600+ Meals Daily
We are now preparing 600 meals a day – delicious, fortifying food – that satisfies the need for comfort in hard times. We are working actively with the Food Bank to support this increasing need for food; we have renovated our Queen Street building (Maurita’s Kitchen) to help us to involve more volunteer help as we prepare large quantities of food (something that was easier before COVID). Where we have traditionally embedded our food production in common spaces, we now have to re-invent our spaces for volunteers to be involved in safe ways in this food production. The numbers of people needing food have grown exponentially! We are close to doubling our food preparation to meet the current food needs in our community. We welcome volunteers to help with the disciplines of food chopping and preparation! Renovations to build food production efficiencies and purchase equipment at Maurita’s Kitchen required an investment of $100,000 and we welcome contributions to this renovation.
Changes at St. John’s Kitchen
St. John’s Kitchen has been a place of learning and change in these times. We have been serving 220 people outside St. John’s Kitchen (people who have shelter), and another 180 people inside St. John’s Kitchen (mostly people without shelter). This is already 100 more meals per day than we were serving before the pandemic, and the numbers continue to grow. St. John’s Kitchen has been a place of welcome for those who are unsheltered – offering washrooms, showers, laundry, meals, and harm reduction supplies – when so many other doors were closed for this group. We have collaborated with the Region of Waterloo to create this bold response during COVID, and have welcomed redeployed workers from the City of Waterloo, the Region of Waterloo, Ray of Hope, Thresholds, and The Working Centre (and then faced more complexities as these folks went back to their regular jobs). This is front-line service that embraces COVID risk, combined with a philosophy of never-saying-no to each request/situation as people have lived raw in outside spaces.
Outreach & Support to Motels
We have been supporting over 40 people in motels: bringing meals, bringing healthcare, problem-solving intense and complex health, mental health, legal, and survival needs. It has been an interesting experiment, where people in motels have stabilized with the more focused help we have offered – wound care, regular food, and problem-solving when issues emerge.
All of this complements the community of connections and support that we provide through St. John’s Kitchen, street outreach, support with concurrent mental health and substance use issues, financial problem-solving, housing support, and links to employment and income support options, plus access to housewares and clothing.
The Region of Waterloo is working with us to expand our street based outreach supports. We will support people who are unsheltered to find housing opportunities.
University Avenue Residence
University Ave housing opens on October 5 and will provide interim housing to 80 people in an un-used off-campus residence – private rooms, shared bathrooms and common spaces. We will welcome 80 people who are traditionally unable to make shelters work or who have been unable to find housing. People will have their own rooms, with a lock on the door, and share common washrooms and dining/gathering places. This place of welcome will provide rest and stability. We are shaping this space actively within the Region of Waterloo’s homelessness strategy – exploring this option that puts housing first for residents, but also provides a range of wrap-around supports for this type of housing.
Water Street House
Water Street House has opened, and we are learning so much as we engage in this work. Six of 8 beds are now filled with people actively navigating their housing, health, substance use, and general wellbeing. We are working to fully welcome and accept the person, active drug use, the expressions of trauma, and the work together to make a safe and healthy space for everyone. Staff people celebrated the joy of serving pancakes as a food of choice for a young man who has been unable to eat fortifying food for such a long time. Small steps gradually invite people into wellness and acceptance. Step by step.
A Better Tent City
We continue to work in cooperation with Lot 42 and A Better Tent City. What a great experiment this has been, inviting people to self-manage in shared space. It is sometimes more raw than how we have worked, but it is engaging people in creative responses that teach us new ways to move past our habits of managed supports. We have things to learn about support that becomes disabling and continue to build on people’s capacity for community building, while also resisting street justice. As a broader community, we have not stepped up far enough to support this innovative project. How can we support this initiative better?
Inner City Health Alliance
The great success of the Inner City Health Alliance has drawn us together as allies to deepen our partnership, to provide a COVID-safe environment, to host an Isolation Ward for those with COVID symptoms, to move ahead the concept of health care in shelter environments (ShelterCare), and to build practical and equitable access to healthcare. We are a core part of the Ontario Health Team application that went forwards to the province of Ontario.
