Cold temperatures put pressure on shelter

Thornhill Liberal
January 20, 2014
By Simone Joseph

This winter’s frigid temperatures caused York Region’s Out of the Cold program to be in such high demand, its executive director and volunteers were forced to bring in 21 extra air mattresses to supplement its bed supply.

“We have never had to do that before,” said executive director Rehana Sumar.

“We’ve been to Canadian Tire five times,” she said.

“It has been a bit overwhelming. Our numbers have risen dramatically,” she said. “We’ve had to accommodate people. It is not possible to transfer people in the extreme weather.”

Between 40 and 45 people have wanted warm, overnight shelter each night, but the shelter only has 30 beds.

On a recent Tuesday night, Ms Sumar had to buy nine air mattresses.

By 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday of last week, Temple Har Zion in Thornhill was already over capacity, serving 35 people and expecting more would show up looking for shelter, Ms Sumar said.

So, the program had to buy more air-mattresses and look for blankets.

YMCA volunteers offered to help out by supplying mattresses from the YMCA.

The Mosaic Interfaith Out of the Cold Program is a central organization that co-ordinates the Out of the Cold shelters for the homeless within York Region.

The program is supported by nine faith communities in southern York Region: Jaffari Islamic Centre, Temple Har Zion, Thornhill United Church (a collaboration by Thornhill United Church, Holy Trinity Anglican Church and Thornhill Baptist Church), St. Luke’s Catholic Church, Rouge Valley Mennonite Church, Toronto Chinese Community Church, Vaughan Community Church, St. Mary’s Anglican Church in Richmond Hill and The Bridge Markham Community Church.

Each faith group offers its building as an overnight shelter, using its volunteers to prepare and serve meals.

The program provides each partner site with support services such as funding, mattresses, transportation of guests, security and volunteer training.

In addition to a rise in the number of homeless people visiting the program’s sites, the shelters have also seen an increase in the number of low-income people who come in for meals and clothing.

Ice storm
“During the ice storm, we saw a slight increase,” Ms Sumar said.

People come for help from as far away as Keswick.

This is the 16th year of the Out of the Cold program and the eighth year of the Mosaic program. During the first eight years of the program, local churches ran a Toronto-based program independently.

In 2005, York Region handed out a development grant to start the program in York Region.

Today, the program includes 11 partners and more than 37 church and cultural groups.

The shelter program began at the beginning of November and runs until the end of March.

When the program began, it provided two nights per week of service; today it provides six nights a week.

Saturday nights are the only night when the program does not provide service.

There are shelters for youth and victims of domestic violence in southern York Region on Saturday nights, but no shelters for the homeless.

YOU CAN HELP
Mosaic needs three more organizations to join if it wants to expand to provide services seven nights per week.

It also needs volunteers at its St. Mary’s Anglican Church site at Yonge and Major Mackenzie.

Between Jan. 27 and March 31 (10 weeks), Mosaic needs helpers to set up in mid-afternoon, help with registration in late afternoon and early evening, people to clean, help with registration and also to help overnight from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.

Call 416-948-6682 or go to miotc.ca for more information.