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Feb 20, 2013

You Take Donations Don’t You?

We came in this morning to find a note from one of the outreach teams that was out last night. The team had come across a friend in need and they gave him a bottle of water. He wanted to pay for it, but the team assured him that it wasn’t necessary. He then asked ‘you take donations don’t you?’ He then passed a loonie to our team as a donation. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen this among our community. So many times, people will come into drop-in and need some i

Feb 11, 2013

Hard to believe, but 2013 marks our 25th Anniversary!

So much has transpired since Susan Brandt and Katrine Coward filled a couple of knapsacks with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and drinking boxes, and walked the streets seeking to come alongside those who were neglected, abused and in need. Now, after 25 years we affirm the faithfulness of God and His care and concern for people experiencing poverty and homelessness! Here’s what happened last year: 5,000+ visits to our drop in program; 7,600+ connections on the streets

Feb 8, 2013

More beautiful for having been broken…

Recently Moira sent me something that she knew would intrigue me. It is a picture of a piece of pottery that was broken and then repaired with gold or silver laquer. It is an art called Kintsukuroi . When a piece of pottery is broken, what is our first impulse? To throw it out of course! To us it’s a useless piece of hard clay now, no longer good for its intended use. But this art is about taking something broken and making it repairing it ‘understanding that is more be

Feb 6, 2013

Where did He call home?

Have you heard the story about the little boy who shared his lunch with a homeless man? The little boy had found the older man in a park and was so enthralled with this man’s beautiful smile that the boy apparently had no fear of him, sat next to him for an extended period of time and shared his bologna sandwich and cookies. Later, when his mother had asked the little boy what he had done that day, the little boy answered, “Today, I shared my lunch with Jesus!” Now, this is

Feb 4, 2013

“I hope we’re the only ones with cold toes tonight”

Volunteering with OIM has introduced me to many new experiences, some sad, but most of them great! One defies categorization, however. That is, the desire to NOT see a dear friend. I mean, this is something that lots of people experience fairly regularly, if you’re having a fight with a spouse, or feeling guilty about what you said to a friend, you may try to avoid them, or hope not to see them for a few days, or something. But say everything is going really well in a relatio

Jan 30, 2013

The Longest Wait…

…for some of our street friends at least: from December 20 or 23 to the end of January. It’s the longest time of the year to make your BIG $531 welfare cheque last – PLUS whatever you might spend at Christmas. Right at this time of the year and this day of the month it is most difficult. You could almost taste the stress and anxiety at the drop in today. Tempers flared several times, and one of our guests refused to leave when asked. I hate when that happens. There is so m

Jan 25, 2013

Turkey time!

The aroma of turkey and all the traditional trimmings wafted from the kitchen at drop-in this week. Nothing says ‘come, sit and enjoy’ like a great turkey dinner! The temperature outside dipped to the lowest it has in 10 years, but inside the windows were steamed up and hearts were warm as we hosted our annual Christmas Dinner. Close to 200 plates of hot savory goodness were served by 40 volunteers to our guests. Each one served with a bonus smile. Thanks to everyone who p

Jan 23, 2013

Perfect timing…

Molly’s worker called the office late yesterday afternoon. Molly is one of our many individuals living in Ottawa that struggle to survive off a meager disability cheque as she is in no position to work due to her mental health issues. Once her rent and utilities are paid, she makes do with less than $200 for the month….for clothing, food, transportation, entertainment, everything!! Imagine…not even $200 in your pocket to live off of for the next 30 days! Molly has been we

Jan 21, 2013

It’s the kind thing to do…

Often times when people hear that I work with the homeless, they like to engage in a conversation about whether or not our society should be responsible for taking care of the homeless. This conversation is generally very predictable… People talk about the waste of money that goes into social programs. Some complain about supporting people on welfare. Others say that it is up to the individual to pick themselves up by their bootstraps to get off the streets. I try my best to

Jan 16, 2013

Taking time to remember

Yesterday, we held our annual memorial service at drop-in to remember those in our street community who passed away in 2012. Often times we don’t know the legal names of our friends, but as we paused and lit a candle for those 32 people on our list, I couldn’t help but wonder if this was someone that I knew. It was a sober thought that the candle I was lighting for a name I didn’t know, could be for someone I have been wondering where they had disappeared to… In those quiet

Jan 14, 2013

You are LATE!!

Four weeks after Christmas and you are late! Yes, we are, with good intention, for several reasons: right around the time of Christmas, there can be as many as 18 (yes, eighteen!) dinners and then January comes and basically everyone disappears. I don’t think folks forget about the homeless necessarily, but holiday fatigue (exhaustion for most) sets in as our bodies recover from our own Christmases and we try to dig ourselves out of the snow – hopefully in time for Easter. T

Jan 11, 2013

Baby Steps…

There’s been no shortage of bad news about homelessness in our city. Ottawa did very poorly on the last Alliance to End Homelessness Annual Report Card with two ‘F’s’ and a ‘D+’. We did achieve one A in the area of new affordable housing units. It was our first ever ‘A’ since the report first started. I heard some very good news yesterday though and I wanted to pass along this encouragement. We are making a difference. I was at a meeting yesterday of outreach agencies t

Jan 9, 2013

The Journey

I’m so proud of Tammi! She has had a long time addiction to crack cocaine…somewhere around fifteen years I think. Like many of the users we see, she has tried over and over again to break the addiction. It’s an addiction folks! Don’t kid yourselves….it can be very hard to stop an addiction!! As much as we would like to say that our friends we serve just make the decision to quit and then stop, never to return to the vice again, that is not really the way it is usually.

Jan 7, 2013

“Low Places”

Suzanne comes to the drop-in every week without fail. Her story is similar to many others: she immigrated to Canada several years ago and she continues to struggle to make ends meet. She comes to the drop-in every week to get much needed support and community. She is also attending language classes a few times each week because she is determined to improve her English. She refuses to speak French at all at the drop-in because she wants to practice her English as much as possi

Jan 4, 2013

Cold Toes, Warm Hearts!

It was -27 degrees last night! Sweet merciful crud that’s cold! But the Wednesday night Outreach crew, appropriately bundled up, had a warm night regardless. In particular, Edwin and I had a wonderful chat with a new friend, in the fleeting warmth of a local MacDonald’s. Andy has an experience common to many of our street friends: he’s in his mid-twenties, and has been hitch-hiking from major Canadian city to major Canadian city for the past few years: Vancouver, Calgary, Win

Jan 2, 2013

Happy New Year

What a cold start to January! As the temperature drops I am very thankful for my warm coat, gloves and most of all, a warm place to go at the end of day. Working amongst the poor and the homeless, I have become aware of just how many don’t have this ‘privilege’. A place to call home. So many of us take it for granted. We have always had one and will likely always have one, but for many others this isn’t the case. But a home is more than a place to go at the end of the d

Dec 31, 2012

The Red Mitts

Recently I had the privilege of participating in a One Homeless Night activity with OIM staff (go Moira!) and a group of teens from The Meeting House, an Ottawa church. If you’ve never participated in One Homeless Night, it provides a good introduction to the life of our street engaged friends in Ottawa, involving a lot of useful facts and statistics, but also a whole lot of walking, introspection and prayer at key sites in the urban core. In this case it was also a good way

Dec 24, 2012

Sasha’s Story: Final Episode, My Christmas Wish

Sasha’s Story is an 8 part series running until December 24. To listen to the audio backgrounder from CHRI radio, click Episode #8 My Christmas Wish My Christmas wish for Ottawa Ministries is for them to have lots of help. Because they do needs. They do help a lot of needs for people. They helped me out a lot, in so many different ways. I mean at the end I even got my discipline. And I mean, it took a long time for that discipline. Self discipline – to be able to go and was

Dec 19, 2012

Sasha’s Story: Episode Seven, Hope for the Future

Sasha’s Story is an 8 part series running until December 24. To listen to the audio backgrounder from CHRI radio, click Episode #7 Hope for The Future [To Ottawa Innercity Ministries] Just keep doing what you’re doing! Don’t change your patterns, just keep doing what you’re doing. Connecting with people, giving a sandwich, making a friend – that’s the important thing. Ottawa Ministries is like a safety blanket – and it’s a safety blanket that I don’t want to leave. [As for

Dec 17, 2012

Sasha’s Story: Episode Six, Outreach

Sasha’s Story is an 8 part series running until December 24. To listen to the audio backgrounder from CHRI radio, click Episode #6 Outreach (Editor) Sasha has a big heart and has given herself over to helping others: others that you and I could never reach. With a heart of compassion and careless abandon for her own safety and well being, Sasha does outreach: I remember when I asked for socks and you gave me ONE pair. I didn’t want ONE pair of socks, I wanted a bag of soc

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