GlobalMedic volunteers pack 1,000 winter kits of hats, socks, hygiene items for unhoused people

A handful of volunteers packed about 1,000 winter kits on Saturday that will be distributed to people experiencing homelessness in Toronto.

GlobalMedic, a charity based in Toronto that provides disaster relief, organized the packing at its warehouse in Etobicoke. Each kit contains a toque and a pair of socks as well as basic personal hygiene items, including shampoo, soap, deodorant, a toothbrush andtoothpaste.

About 15 people volunteered to pack the kits, which were put into sealable plasticbags and then into boxes. Each box contains about 10 kits. Community agencies that work with unhoused people are expected to pick up the boxes as early as Monday for distribution next week.

Rahul Singh, executive director of GlobalMedic, said on Saturday that homelessness is a huge problem in Toronto that has been compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a great need for individual items that make up the winter kit, he said.

"A lot of people have been suffering because of COVID-19. A lot of people lost work. A lot of people lost their places to live. A lot of people that were on the outside looking in didn't have opportunities to get back into the workforce and to get back into the housing system," Singh said.

"At the same time, you have all these city agencies and community agencies that are working feverishly to help them. When we analyze situations like that, we think: 'How can we best help?' And by preparing kits and getting them into the right hands so that they can get them out to the families that need them the most and the homeless, well, that's the right thing to do," he added.

"Because the problem is so immense right now, we felt it was important to provide assistance in this area."

Singh said about 1,000 kits have a retail value of about $20,000, but the kits will cost GlobalMedic under $500 because the items were donated and the labour involvedin packing the kits was volunteer. The $500 was spent on bags, tape and boxes.

"By having the volunteers here, we flatten out the cost. By getting the donations of the product, we eliminate the cost there as well. We are able to push this out to agencies to help," he said.

Volunteers packed for an hour and a half on Saturday. They wore masks as they packedin the warehouse. GlobalMedic volunteers arefrom all walks of life and includehigh school students doing their volunteer hoursas well asmembers of churches.

"We're all here for one cause," Singhsaid. "Our job is literally just to be the supply chain for community agencies."

9,000 people experiencing homelessness in Toronto

According to the City of Toronto's Shelter System Flow Datapage, a total of 9,199 peoplewereactively experiencing homelessness in the city at the end of November. This page provides a monthly snapshot of homelessness in Toronto.

Thenumber is nearly 2,000 more than the capacity of the city's shelter system, according to the city of Toronto's Daily Shelter and Overnight Service Usage page. Thispage provides a daily snapshot of the number of people who use the shelter system.

City data shows that 7,281peopleused the city's shelter systemon Thursday night.

According to its website, GlobalMedic has responded to 237 disasters in 78 countries.