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Tag: Mayors Dinner

Determined Hope at the 35th Annual Mayors’ Dinner

Kara Peters Unrau June 1, 2024

On April 6th, we celebrated the 35th Mayors’ Dinner in Marshall Hall at Bingemans. With over 830 guests, the room was bubbling with energy. The subtle lights and a full house of people in conversation enhanced the warmth of the evening. It is always heartening to see so many longtime supporters of The Mayors’ Dinner who each year commit to participating in this community building fundraising event.

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Acting Into Justice Provokes New Ways of Thinking

Joe Mancini June 1, 2024

Pope Francis calls the beatitudes the path to joy and true happiness for all humanity. What is the work of shelter – it is walking with those who are left out, it is the call to be merciful, it is mourning those who die, it is seeking right action for those dispossessed. During these last five years, The Working Centre has walked with thousands dealing with homelessness, many of whom are caught in the concurrent cycle of mental health and addictions.

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Voices of Hope, Courage, and Determination

The Working Centre June 1, 2024

As part of the 35th Mayors’ Dinner, workers in the field of employment counselling, settlement support, shelter and homelessness supports, and workers involved in climate change and environmental projects were invited to share their experiences, stories and perspectives.

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Opening Blessing at the 35th Mayors’ Dinner

Donna Dubie June 1, 2024

I am honoured for the introduction tonight, as not very long ago it was not a thing to do, to stand up and introduce yourself as a proud Mohawk woman, Haudenosaunee, from the Territory of Six Nations, Turtle Clan….  We have come a long way. As Indigenous people we were given the responsibility and the looking after of Turtle Island and the caregiving of Mother Earth, which is a huge responsibility.  I want you to know, we can’t do this alone.

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Determined Hope

Rebecca Mancini March 1, 2024

This year, the Mayors’ Dinner helps us to reflect on the importance of determined hopefulness in the face of despair. Determined hopefulness is not a gentle wish for the future, it is an intentional act to choose the kind of world that we want to live in. It will take courage and it will take care. Looking at the world around us, the need for courage is clear.

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Responding to the Rise in Homelessness

Joe Mancini June 1, 2023

How did the numbers of homeless grow so rapidly in the last 5 years? Here are some of the underlying social factors that are contributing:

By 2013 the gathering forces of industrial synthetic drug production broke out from the margins making powerful drugs like fentanyl and crystal meth widely and cheaply available.

Sky high rents are leaving many out of the housing market. The definition of despair is having a $600 social assistance cheque when the cost to rent a room is $800.

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Housing is A Human Right

Nikki Britton June 1, 2023

Are you able to meet your basic needs like showering, clean clothes, using a restroom, accessing food and clean water? Have you been hospitalized or used a crisis service? Have you stayed in a holding cell, jail or prison? Have you been attacked or beaten up? Do you have planned activities, other than just surviving, that make you feel happy and fulfilled?

These are questions that might not cross your mind on a day-to-day basis but are front and center for many people in our community, folks our teams walk with each and every day.

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34th Annual Mayors’ Dinner Recap

Kara Peters Unrau June 1, 2023

On April 15th, after a three year hiatus, we celebrated the 34th Mayors’ Dinner in person in Marshall Hall at Bingemans. With over 800 guests, the room was full and decorated to feel like home with warm furniture, bookshelves and subtle lights.

It was heartening to see so many longtime supporters of The Mayors’ Dinner come out to participate in this meaningful community event that highlighted the creative, grassroots efforts to addressing homelessness.

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Responding to Homelessness in Waterloo Region

Stephanie Mancini March 1, 2023

This year’s Mayors’ Dinner focuses on Responses to Homelessness. We are pleased to celebrate the many diverse efforts it takes to make change happen in the face of the daunting, disturbing and often tragic realities we face as a community.
We have leaned in with everything we have as an organization, and have been on the front-lines of this tragedy, hardship and injustice.

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The Integrated Circle of Care is a fluid and collaborative approach followed by workers from different agencies weaving through St. John’s Kitchen. Within this approach, staff members from each agency are aware of their specific personal roles. However, the high level of collaboration between workers means that people can approach any worker, without knowing their agency association or specific role, and still receive support – either that worker will support the person directly, or they will introduce the person to another worker who can support the person more appropriately.

This approach makes relationships more natural and support more accessible. Workers from different agencies are easily approachable, meaning that people build relationships with multiple workers. Having relationships with different workers is important to a person’s support – it makes support from a trusted source easy to find, and means that people have a choice of worker to approach in any given situation.

In order to maintain a circle of care around a person, workers from different agencies ask for consent from the person for information to be shared between workers. Continuous communication between workers helps to ensure that people do not fall into gaps between services, and also that services are not duplicated.

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