Warming Centre Report

November 1 2020 - April 30, 2021

A Success.

Our first run of the Warming Centre was a success. Coming off the heels of a successful Cooling Centre run, we expanded our open hours to provide 7 hours of shelter to those experiencing homelessness. In February 2021, these hours were extended again and we were open from 10am to 8pm to provide additional relief during a dangerous cold snap.
 
Winter is an incredibly difficult season for those experiencing homelessness – this difficulty was multiplied by two different lockdowns and was an especially stressful season for our community members who do not have shelter. During the lockdowns, Royal City Mission was often the only accessible facility open to those without shelter in Guelph during the day.

Thank you.

We are so incredibly thankful for all of the volunteers who helped out in the Warming Centre this year. Despite two different lockdowns, our volunteers persevered and enabled us to be open to serve those who had no consistent day-time shelter.Because of Covid, we operated with smaller volunteer teams to minimize risk of exposure - our volunteers logged 1,789 hours of service during this Warming Centre season. As well, thank you to everyone who donated and provided funds to make this season possible.

Consistently Open.

We were open every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday - including being open every holiday - including Christmas Day. We didn't have any emergency closures or unforeseen circumstances that required any interruptions to the days we were open.

Emergency Hours.

In February 2021, we extended our hours (opening at 10am) and also opened Saturdays (10am - 8pm) to provide relief from a dangerous cold snap that put our community members at risk. Thank you to the staff and volunteers who served overtime to make this happen.

Accessibility

Due to Covid, our Warming Centre was only open to those who were experiencing homelessness.

The Warming Centre was utilized well by our unsheltered community members this winter and it became a lifeline this winter as we weathered two lockdowns - as we were the only place accessible during the day for many of our community members.

We saw higher numbers over the winter months. Our least accessed day was January 1, 2021 with 21 people accessing the Warming Centre.

We saw at least 46 individuals access the Warming Centre for 30 or more days this winter - with 114 others who accessed it at least 5 times this season.

Community Health Partnerships

We are very thankful for our partners who came alongside to provide health support onsite to our community members.

Onsite Care.

Nurses from Sanguen Health Centre operated out of our Activity Room for four Tuesdays, providing vaccines (flu shots, pneumovax, Hep A, Hep B), point-of-care, naloxone training and distribution, and harm reduction.

Onsite Vaccinations.

We became a site for our community members to receive Covid vaccinations. Over two days the clinic saw 60 vulnerable people vaccinated.

Cooling Centre

We have already transitioned to our Cooling Centre and are looking forward to the day when Covid is behind us and we can open up our Weather Station programming to anyone in need - regardless of their housing situation. Our Cooling Centre season is from May 24, 2021 - August 31, 2021.

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Thank you for making our Warming Centre possible.

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