Taylor Seguin, the executive director for Centre 105, an Anglican Community Ministry, told Crosstalk “We’re thrilled that this annual event… has quickly become our biggest event of the year.” Last year’s event raised about $10,000 as well, but Seguin said with economic times being tough, the team wasn’t sure they could hope for as much again. They set their goal as $10,000 but prepared themselves not to be heartbroken if it turned out to be less.

But the generosity of Cornwall came through again. There were some corporate donations. The local FreshCo donated most of the food for the hearty bacon and eggs breakfasts served, (deliciously accompanied by homemade muffins, cookies and cupcakes donated by the ACW groups in all three of the Anglican churches in the area.) The Kinsmen Club of Cornwall, Victim Services, and JobZone each donated $500, but the majority of the money raised came in $20 bills donated by the people who attended the breakfast.

The staff cooked and served the breakfast to the fundraiser guests in Centre 105 in a very similar way to the way the Centre usually serves the people who come three mornings a week.

In 2022, Centre 105 decided not to sell tickets for the breakfast and to do all their fundraisers by donation. “Give what you can, give a little, give a lot, but it worked out really well that way. …Some people who came to the fundraiser might have been clients who weren’t able to give, but the next person might have given $500,” Seguin said.

There was another change in this year’s event. In past years, the breakfast event has featured a guest speaker, but this year a moving video about Centre 105’s work and its impact on the lives of the people it serves created by videographer Nick Seguin played every half hour.  The video can be seen on Centre 105’s website.

The staff had little time to bask in the glow of the successful fundraiser though because winter was on the way and they had started a drive to collect winter supplies—hats, mittens, gloves, boots. “The worst thing is when somebody asks for a pair of gloves and you don’t have them,” Seguin said.

“Every year we do a pretty solid drive with local churches and Walmart. Walmart has been really, really helpful… [Its warehouse] is the biggest employer in Cornwall, so there’s thousands of people who work there. Anytime you set up a drive at that warehouse, you do really well…. It’s as simple as just leaving a barrel for a week and you could be set for mitts for a whole winter.” He said donations are usually split 50-50 between new and used items: all are gladly received and distributed to those in need.

Centre 105 tries to warm up the winter months with activities and fun too. Last December was the first time the Centennial Choir did a Christmas concert, and they will be at the centre again this year on Dec. 10.  The choir does a big performance in the city at Christmas, but the ticket prices can be out of range for many people. The weekend before the big show, they do a practice at Centre 105. “It’s super cool because our participants can come and see a concert [again by donation] and then we have a reception in the hall after,” said Seguin. Last year, Santa Clause was there, and a professional photographer donated her time.

It promises to be a merry day again this year.

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The rise in drug use “has changed the nature of the behaviour of the people we see,” says Rachel Robinson, Belong Ottawa’s executive director. “Our frontline social support workers have difficult and stressful jobs. They are dedicated and hard-working, and we are so grateful for these additional resources.”

The surge in drug abuse has coincided with another challenge facing the agency, an influx of asylum seekers to Ottawa, some with children, looking for food and other supports.

The good news is that the staff of 44 is stable and rising to both challenges, though not without some fallout along the way.  Twenty-seven staffers are getting additional training to help them assist drug victims.  A few, suffering burnout, have left, and Robinson says it’s difficult to recruit experienced replacements.

“It’s put huge pressure on the staff,” she says. “Our staff never went into this work thinking they were going to be spending a lot of time doing first aid. A few years ago, it would have been unusual to be doing any, but now we’re having to do it on a weekly basis.”

The surge in drug use has rekindled longstanding opposition to Belong Ottawa’s Centre 454 location on King Edward Avenue based on drug use spilling out into neighbouring streets. (Drugs are not permitted inside.) The board of one of the nearby condominiums has protested in a letter to the Rev. Michael Garner of the host church, St Albans, copying Bishop Shane Parker.

The opposition has contributed to the formation of a community liaison committee by the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre. It aims to work with all stakeholders and residents in a search for positive solutions.

One of the issues is that users who smoke drugs won’t walk to the safe injection site because smoking isn’t allowed. It has been suggested that establishing a safe inhalation site would help.

Both Robinson and Garner are on the committee and see it as the best way forward. Garner says letters of complaint aren’t as useful as doing the hard work to come up with solutions. Drug use is a reality, and Centre 454 is in the business of saving human lives.

There are no easy answers, Robinson says. “I think our position is that we think it’s right to help people and that improves the overall situation, as opposed to just moving or closing.”

Instead, the focus is on ways to further improve the Centre 454 location to meet current and future demand.

Recently, the plumbing system broke down because it was never intended to handle 14 showers and 10 laundry loads on a typical day. Repairs restored service but a permanent fix will require a major plumbing overhaul. In addition, dead space on the property is being closed off to reduce problematic use.

In contrast to the drug issue, the concurrent challenge is the sharp increase in people looking for food because of price inflation. Many are asylum seekers who have migrated to Ottawa while exhausting their resources.

As a result, Belong Ottawa’s food budget has jumped from $100,000 annually to more than $140,000.  Grants of $10,000 each have come from the Ottawa Community Foundation and the City of Ottawa. Meals have been added at Centre 454, running at about 100 daily. Belong Ottawa’s total service is at 290 meals for a typical day, all prepared out of The Well location.

As some asylum seekers speak languages other than English or French, interpreters have been hired.  And as winter approaches some extra costs can be anticipated to cover unforeseen emergencies.

On a typical day, Belong Ottawa’s three locations record 262 visitors; 292 meals served; 31 harm reduction kits given out; 29 showers, 16 loads of laundry and 66 basic supplies provided.

While core funding is stable it doesn’t cover rising costs. “We are in a situation where we have to rely on fund-raised dollars and the additional grants,” Robinson says.

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That is only one of the challenges facing a staff working hard to maintain services as they deal with steep food inflation, steadily increasing demand for their services and a shortage of properly trained staff.

Amber Bramer, director of development and communications, says Cornerstone has no choice but to appeal to the community in two ways—asking for financial donations and lobbying governments for more funding. “We’re trying really hard to get more corporate giving,” she says. “Government funding is just not what it used to be.”

Even the good news of a new supportive housing residence at 44 Eccles Street comes with a challenge. The new residence building has been undergoing renovations and is on track to open late this year or early next.

Four more chefs will be needed to provide food—three meals a day—to the 46 residents at Eccles Street as well as the emergency shelter, Booth Street and Princeton Avenue locations. The number of women served will go up from 100 to 150.

Food costs increased by 18 per cent last year, and they are on track for a similar or even larger increase this year. To meet the increased cost, a special campaign to raise $40,000 through the Giving Tuesday program has been under way.

Food service is efficiently supplied out of one location—the Booth Street Residence where there is a commercial kitchen—to the shelter and other locations, including Eccles Street when it opens.

“We see a whole new landscape of people needing support,” Bramer says. “We see more people suffering from abuse and disorders, more not being able to access the right support [to prevent] them from going back into homelessness. It’s why our supportive housing model is so important. And 44 Eccles Street is a tangible way we can make a real difference.”

Unfortunately, providing the right support is another challenge. “People aren’t getting the right training for dealing with the mental illness and health issues that are in our sector,” Bramer says.  She calls for more government funding to train front-line social services specialists. 

The emergency shelter has seen a huge increase in refugee claimants. Its 60 beds are occupied every night and frequently the shelter has to try to find alternative accommodation in City of Ottawa overflow facilities.  Adding extra sleeping units is not feasible.

Cornerstone’s McPhail Residence is specifically designed to support refugees, but its capacity of six rooms means finding help elsewhere.

Cornerstone, along with other agencies, has struggled since April when the loss of $1 million in federal pandemic funding coincided with a reduction in new budget funding from the Ontario government. Queen’s Park allocated only 0.4 per cent of new homelessness funding to Ottawa. Toronto got 60 times more, while being three times larger than Ottawa.

Since then, agencies including Cornerstone have worked through Alliance to End Homelessness Ottawa to ask the Ford government to reconsider. The alliance has launched an “Ottawa Needs More Campaign” on its website, urging residents to write to the premier and housing minister.

In her own letter to the premier and housing minister, Kaite Burkholder Harris, executive director of the Alliance, says the funding levels are deeply inequitable and unless changed they will result in a reduction or even closing of some services across the city.

Cornerstone Housing for Women is a Community Ministry of the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa.

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Australia has launched its Community Refugee Integration and Settlement Pilot (CRISP), which is modelled on Canada’s community sponsorship program and aims to support 1,500 refugees over four years.

As a Sponsorship Agreement Holder with the Canadian government, the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa has worked in partnership with parishes and other groups to sponsor and help resettle hundreds of refugees in Canada for more than 40 years.  Australian officials wanted to learn more about the Canadian experience. They were also joined by staff from Refugee Hub in Ottawa.

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The fire caused major damage at St. Luke’s Anglican Church in Ottawa, forcing the temporary closure of St. Luke’s Table facilities in the church basement, where there was widespread water damage. The next day, staff from the Anglican day programs were already outside the church providing breakfasts for the people who normally came to St. Luke’s Table for hot meals and a variety of other supports. 

Participants were also immediately invited to The Well, a sister agency in the basement of St. John the Evangelist, that normally serves only women, where they could get meals and access to showers and laundry machines, as well as help navigating the social service network and health care system.

“The reason we’re able to do this and pivot so quickly is because of our lockdown COVID experience,” explained Rachel Robinson, the executive director for the three Anglican Day Programs in Ottawa — St. Luke’s Table, The Well and Centre 454. The three separate Community Ministries of the diocese began working more closely together during the pandemic when COVID hit in March 2020. It took a couple of months to work out what to do and to acquire a van, she said. “But because we did that, we were able to do it literally the day after the fire. We responded so quickly because of what we learned through COVID. And even the pooled resources from the three programs, that wouldn’t have happened as easily when there were three separate agencies.” 

A story in the November issue of Crosstalk announced the launch of the merged programs under a new collective brand, but the fire has delayed that launch.

Robinson said that Joel Prentice, director of property and asset management for the Diocese, was negotiating a lease on a storefront property in the neighbourhood of St. Luke’s that can be used while the church and the St. Luke’s Table space is restored. 

In the meanwhile, Robinson said participants from St. Luke’s programs “are struggling with not having a space to connect with staff and connect with one another in a social way. We are doing our best to support them.” Many of them are going to The Well, in the basement of St. John the Evangelist (Somerset and Elgin), while others are going to Centre 507 (another day program in Centretown United Church) and some have even gone to Centre 454 on King Edward. 

“They are having their basic needs met in terms of getting a meal,” said Robinson, noting that the laundry machines and two showers at the Well are in constant use. (The basement location of St. Luke’s Table had recently been renovated to expand the kitchen and add showers and laundry facilities. 

“But it’s that social connection and breaking isolation and loneliness that is the hard thing without a space because people live in a room, literally a room, that could be 10 feet by 10 feet with a single bed and no communal space in the rooming house. So you really want to go out, like we all do…. And the day programs provided structure to many people’s days, so that’s the thing I would say people might be struggling with.”

The storefront spot won’t have a kitchen or other amenities that the church basement had. Robinson said they would find a way to provide a meal, perhaps with food cooked and delivered from the Well. But the focus at the storefront location will be on social connection and recreation. “It is going to be more like a community centre. We’re calling it a café at the moment, where people can come and sit and connect. We’ll still do some social work, referrals to other agencies, if someone comes in and needs to be referred to a housing worker,” for example, she said.

The staff and usual participants at The Well are coping with the change. “It’s hard to navigate, and a few women are unhappy that there are men here, which is totally understandable, and we want to protect a safe space for women 100%,” said Robinson. “We’ve got two rooms that we are using where women can go if they want to be…. It’s not ideal, no one would pretend that this an ideal situation. Many women are actually fine and comfortable, and in fact, quite enjoy having a mix and a change. It’s a bit more lively, there’s more people to socialize with.”

The staff, she said, “are doing an amazing job. They are really responsive and flexible, but everybody is very tired.”

St. Luke’s battered by fire, Oct. 11

According to a statement issued by Bishop Shane Parker on Oct. 12, the fire broke out in the east transept of the church, causing extensive damage to the sanctuary and nave. “Fortunately no one was injured; unfortunately, the building cannot be used by the congregation or the day program any time soon,” he wrote.

The timing of the fire made the loss more poignant. The congregation’s 150^th anniversary was Oct. 16, including 100 years in the building itself. “Bishop John Chapman, who has been providing pastoral leadership to the congregation in a period of intentional discernment, quickly arranged for them to meet on Sundays in the Chapel of All Saints Westboro until the way forward becomes clear.” 

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The Rev. Canon Dr. Peter John Hobbs, Director General of Community Ministries, says it’s major step forward for the day programs. “Belong Ottawa reflects a new era for the Community Ministries, which are so cherished by the Diocese and by the community.”  

Belong Ottawa’s executive director Rachel Robinson says the experience of the pandemic demonstrated the power of the three programs pooling resources.  They initiated outreach, delivering food to rooming houses and people on the street as well as helping them stay connected and offering showers, laundry, washrooms and social support.

As work progressed on a strategic plan, she says, it became clear that the programs needed an umbrella name and an identity. “We began to see ourselves as one organization operating out of three sites. The intention of the rebranding is to bring clarity for funders, donors, staff and participants alike.” 

At the same time, it was important to retain the strong identities that had developed in each of the three programs. Belong Ottawa will continue to operate at the three sites of Centre 454, The Well and St. Luke’s Table.

The decision to merge was driven by three considerations: 

Having one instead of two executive directors allowed more resources to be channelled to support workers.

The desire to maintain the flexibility around food production that had been achieved during the pandemic. 

Staff appreciated being able to experience and learn from different sites, colleagues and communities.

Belong Ottawa’s professionally designed logo is intended to convey a sense of connection, safety and inclusiveness. The symbol shows different paths connecting on a journey to wellness. It’s a visual projection of the agency’s mission.

The strategic plan, to be implemented over three years, covers five basic goals, to:

• work in partnership with participants to meet their needs;  
• be a desirable employer that values and supports staff; 
• support volunteers to contribute to the community; 
• ensure financial health with adequate resources to adapt to changing need, and
• create neighbourhood partnerships.

One of the first initiatives, to identify the appropriate staff complement to support operations effectively, has been completed with an agreed total of 30. 

In addition, Belong Ottawa will be counting on more than 100 volunteer hours a week. “Volunteers and participation from the people who use our services are essential,” Robinson says. “We could not run our programs without these additional workers.”

The strategic plan also calls for the creation this year of a full-time position of fundraising and communications manager. That role is linked to developing a new fundraising strategy, including reaching out to enlist new donors.

The merger extends to streamlined governance. Instead of three separate management boards Belong Ottawa will be reporting to one board composed of about nine individuals both from the Diocese and the community at large. The board, in turn, is appointed by the Community Ministries Committee of the Diocese.

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Two Afghan families, sponsored by the Community Alliance of Refugee Settlement (CARS) in Perth, a partnering group of the ministry, arrived in Perth in August. Another two families are on track for settlement to Ottawa. They include a prominent Afghan television news anchor who is among the most vulnerable to persecution.

These families are being settled under the special Operation Afghan Safety Program that is making about 3,000 cases available to Sponsorship Agreement Holders of which the Diocese’s Refugee Ministry is one. The program will be open to applications at least until next year.

At the same time, the Blended Visa Office Referral (BVOR) program has become more active. Under the program Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) provides lists of candidates for settlement to Sponsorship Agreement Holders, inviting them to participate. 

“I hope we’ll be busy from now on,” Ishita Ghose, case manager at the Refugee Ministry, says. The ministry has filed two applications under the BVOR program and expects to do more.

One of the applications is partnered with the Interchurch Refugee Group (IRG), an independent charity supported by five churches, including Epiphany Anglican in Gloucester.

Ghose, who works with Safiyah Rochelle as a team in the ministry, encourages parishes to contact the ministry office if they are interested or want more information. The big advantage for BVOR sponsorship now is that the government is providing up to six months’ worth of cost-sharing funding based on rates of the province’s Resettlement Assistance Program.  Sponsors can choose to support a family or a single person from the lists provided by IRCC.

The government recently announced an additional $800,000 to expand resettlement services in eastern Ontario. The Refugee Ministry is a member of the Refugee Network of the Eastern Ontario and Outaouais Region of the United Church of Canada.

The diocese partners with “constituent groups” like CARS and IRG to sponsor refugee families.  The groups may be parishes and community groups and may include family members of refugees. They raise funds to support the refugee families financially for their first year and also provide settlement activities.

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As the two women got to know each other on early morning walks, Zacios talked about St. Luke’s Table, where she has volunteered since 2013, served on the management board and on its fundraising committee.  She told Murray about the effects of the pandemic on the day program that offers meals, help navigating social services and health care, as well as shower and laundry facilities to vulnerable people. They were low on essential toiletries —like toilet paper, soap, toothpaste and toothbrushes— that they distribute to the those who come to the centre in the basement of St. Luke’s Anglican Church on Somerset Street.

Murray, an English teacher at Immaculata High School, listened intently. Maybe the school could help, she thought. A drive to gather donations of toiletries could be a Lenten project. The students had missed out on so many community-building activities of this kind during the pandemic. She suggested it to the school chaplain, but she had just had COVID and wasn’t up to organizing it, so that fell to Murray herself.

She talked about the idea with her Gr. 7 homeroom class, and they liked the idea. It would be a competition to see which class could bring in the most items.

She integrated the project into their curriculum as a media unit. Their assignment was to market the drive to get the rest of the school involved. They had to make posters. She taught them the concept of an elevator pitch; “You have 30 seconds to convince students why they need to do this,” she told them. Two staff — Ottawa Day Programs community development manager Liz de Melo and St. Luke’s Table program manager India Bedson— came to talk to the students about the community at St. Luke’s.

“When we started, I asked the kids who do you think the clients are for St. Luke’s? Who are we helping?” Murray explained. ‘Drug addicts,’ they said. “There were a lot of judgements and stereotypes about homeless people. India and Liz were able to debunk a lot of the stereotypes. ‘Yes,’ they said, ‘there are some people who struggle with addiction. Why are they struggling? What do you think their story is?’ Their interaction with the students was amazing. Liz … asked the students how many cups of coffee do you think we serve a day? How many meals? How many loads of laundry do we do? It gave the kids a lot of insight.”

As they were preparing their pitches for the other classrooms, Murray suggested they could sum up the problem this way: “There’s a shortfall in funding for St. Luke’s Table. They need to supplement the 70% of their budget that they get from the city, so they need our help.”

“But that’s not the real problem,” one of the kids told her. “The real problem is homelessness, and are we really solving it with the drive?” This is critical thinking, Murray said. “These kids thought deeply about what we were doing and why we were doing it and how effective we would be with it.” 

How does a toothbrush help? Liz and India told the students that these things show that people care. They provide dignity and hope for a lot of people.

The Immaculata toiletry drive was a big success and far exceeded Murray’s expectations. “I thought 1,000 items maybe, because the pandemic has hit families so hard, the cost of groceries is going up, gas, even cooking food is expensive,” she said. 

But the students, especially the Grade 7 and Grade 8 classes, got caught up in the spirit of giving and competing with one another to bring in the most items.

“There’s a lot of diversity in our school population, and I think some families of our students are using food banks, St. Luke’s Table and organizations like that to stretch the dollars in their budgets, but those kids still brought in rolls of toilet paper. They were getting them from the shelter and then returning them, but they wanted to be part of the community of giving. That was really touching,” said Murray.

In the end, they collected about 4,000 items. It all fit, just barely, in Murray’s van, and she delivered the items to St. Luke’s just before Easter. While she was there, she met a man who was part of the St. Luke’s community. When he learned she taught at Immaculata, he asked if she knew two students who he named. “They are living on the street, and you had better look out for them,” he advised, saying he was also looking out for them.”

“I did know that the one student was at risk,” Murray said, adding that she had wondered about the other. “There’s a lot of caring adults in the [school] trying to help them, but that woke me up to the fact that we think we are helping other people, but we are also helping people within our own community.”

Back at the school, the winning classrooms were treated to a homemade pancake breakfast. “They came together as a community to give to St. Luke’s Table, and they came together as a community to eat and celebrate together. It was super important, very joyful. It was an extremely positive experience for me and for the students.”

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