Our street outreach volunteers share their experiences regularly with the rest of the team. These reports help us prepare for serving and provide our prayer community with prayer points. Here’s a sample from a team last week. Names and places have been changed or removed to protect the privacy of our street friends.
“Last night, we had two teams out, serving 84 people. Most of the people we saw were clustered.... Overall, we were out for a bit over 3 hours. While it wasn’t a cold night as far as Ottawa winters go, we did feel the chill if we stopped too long. This was particularly true on Rideau St. as the wind blows right along it.
[One] team stopped by Tom's usual place [and] Tom wasn’t there, which was a surprise as he never misses a Thursday and, a week ago, he said he would see us. Funny enough, had we seen Tom we would have chatted with him for a few minutes and would have missed the interesting discussions we later had.
A bit further up, we saw John's wheelchair [and John was inside a building]. Since he was inside with his cat, we were going to give him some juice and hand warmers. As we gathered the items, we met Sam, who lives in the area. She has recently helped John move his wheelchair when he was told to move. She also brings him tea every day. She is very interested in seeing him find a spot out of the weather. We discussed a few options. She was also interested in finding longer-term solutions, which will require a case worker.
Sam asked if people really get off the street, and we pointed to Dan, who... is now housed, as well as Jack and Sue, who have housing.... We pointed to the best example of the evening and told her about Cam, who, 5 minutes before, shared a bit of his story, then gave us $20. We commented that it was hard for folks to leave the street, yet there were success stories, and we were giving hope one day at a time while waiting for those stories to happen. Along the way, we commented that many people we see have housing; however, they have little left after paying rent, and we provide a badly needed stopgap for people to eat. As if on cue, a few minutes later, we served two men..., and one commented on how he had a place but couldn’t afford food.
Now that it's winter, we looked at the back of [a building] where there are exhaust vents. These vents push out warm air, and we’ve often seen people warming themselves. At the vents, we met James warming himself. We served him and gave him a sleeping bag, as well as praying for him.
There weren’t as many Inuit or First Nation friends...and none at the underpass. Along [one street], we met three of the group, including Mia, who I haven’t seen for a while. Mia is from El Salvador, and we were fortunate that one of our team speaks Spanish. It was cool that Mia could talk with someone in her first language. We spent a bit of time talking with Dan, who has a lot going on. We celebrated that he’s getting a place next week and talked through options for him as he can’t stay in the shelters until he gets his place. One suggestion was that he use the stairwell in the... parkade as it is heated.
We served Emma while Tim didn’t want anything. They were tucked into a nook.... Emma mentioned the frostbite on the back of her leg that makes it hard to sit, stand or use the washroom. She needs warmer clothes.”
Please pray for our friends on the street.
~ Sarah Pearce, Volunteer & Program Coordinator
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