Non-profits work together to keep homeless warm and fed during Manitoba cold snap

With the wind chill below 40, the province's most vulnerable have beenleft scrambling to find safety and warmth for survivalat a time when fewer places are open because of COVID-19 public health restrictions.

KlinicCommunity Health on Sherbrook is seeing a significant increase in the number of people coming through itsdoors.

Ayn Wilcox, Klinic's director of Health and Community Services, says people are coming in wanting more than health servicesthey want a place to warm up and to get some emergency supplies.

"We just don't have the spaceto allowpeople to stayfor a long time.We aren'ta shelteror a warming space but weknow there aren'ta lot of options with COVID and when it is this cold, we want to be warm and welcoming. We set them up in a little bit of space where they can change their socks and warmtheir feet," said Wilcox.

Klinic is asking for donations of emergency supplies such as hygiene products, toques, socks and any warm clothing. The donations can be dropped off at their new location.

Transportation is key

At Samaritan House Ministries in Brandon, staff are expecting all 22 shelter beds to fill up as the cold days continue.

While donations of food are always welcome, transporting clientsto and fromthe shelter and food bank is the biggest challenge, according to executive director Barbara McNish.

"Oneof the biggest requests we get is a way to provide transportation so people don't have to come out in the cold for their hampers or to come to the shelter. We don't have a van and we don't have enough staffing to make deliveries. So it may mean they come the next day or a neighbour does the pick up," said McNish.

Over the weekend in Winnipeg, Spence Neighbourhood Association and Main Street Project stepped in and providedvans to transport people to a shelter.

More than two dozen people were moved from 1JustCityon Pulford Street after the shelter lost power during renovations.The Salvation Army offered up its chapel so all 30 people would have a warm, safe place to sleep.

The shelter islooking for more volunteers along with donations of mitts and toques.

Monday night, clients were moved into the sanctuary at 1JustCitywhich is warmer and not inan area under construction. Expedited work is being done to bring the heat back up to what it should be,according to Tessa Whitecloud, the shelter's executive director.

A mission close to his heart

But it's not just agencies and non- profits that are doing their part to make sure no one is left out in the cold. Individuals are stepping up too.

Ron Eldridge and his wife run Devoted to You Street Ministries out of theirvehicle in Portage la Prairie. Day and night, they have been scouringstreets, looking for people experiencinghomelessness, offering a kind word of encouragement, handing out coats, sweaters, gloves, hot coffeeand TimHorton's gift cards.

For Eldridge,it's a mission close to his heart. He spent 13 years on the streets in his younger days, when he was transient and homeless.

"Thesepeople are very dear to my heart. I know what they need and whatthey are going through. They are part of me," said the 60-year-old retiree.

He says his life turned around when awoman helped him by putting him up at a rooming house decades ago.Ten years later, that woman became his wife. The couple has been committed to helping the most vulnerable every since.

Eldridge says it warms his heart to see how non-profits across the province are banding together to make sure no one is left out in the cold.

"That's what will get us through this, through this cold snap and COVID. People caring for and helping each other," he said.

Helping vulnerable people during extreme cold weather

4 years ago

Duration 2:19

Dangerous temperatures and few options prompted one Winnipeg organization to pull together a pop up emergency warming shelter in St Boniface. And they're working around the clock to keep people on the streets safe.