A Little Warmth from Out of the Cold in Toronto, Canada

A beautiful Canadian winter wonderland may not look so good in the eyes of the less fortunate

Canada is a cold country and it is getting colder. The past few years, we had such warm weather that I hardly wore my heavy winter coats so I gave them all away last fall. As soon as I gave my heavy coats away, we have  experienced one of the coldest and longest winter for the past three decades!

 It is cosy watching the snow from the warmth of our living room. But the long freezing cold winter can be rather harsh, and even fatal if you are a homeless or poor person who does not make enough to have a good meal.

 

Providing a warm place to sleep for the needy ones

Alice and her team welcome and register the guests who come to the church

A hot drink for our guests upon their arrival

Fortunately in Toronto, there
are community organizations such as churches and charitable agencies that have the heart to do what they can to lend a helping hand to the needy.

Free hair cutting service provided to our guests

 I have just finished volunteering in the Out of the Cold program organized by the TCCC.

 It is their strong belief in social work and reaching out to the less fortunate that draws me to this church.

Free medical care is also available to those who need it in the Medical Room

Free clothing is available to be picked up

I am privileged to  be a part of a dedicated team of volunteers who have committed to this meaningful task. For the past few weeks, there were over two hundred volunteers working hard to feed and provide shelter for the less fortunate ones in our community.

Volunteers are hard at work in the kitchen cooking for our guests

When they enter our church, they are greeted with warmth by Alice and her team who register them assign them a bed if they need one for the night.

Hospitality volunteers chatting with our guests

After they put their things down, our guests can help themselves to unlimited hot tea or coffee, followed by some hearty snacks.

While they are waiting for their dinner, there are different free services offered to them such as
hair cutting, medical care and clothing bank.

Guests are seated at round tables with volunteers acting as Hospitality Host/Hostess trying to engage them in conversations and some board games.

The volunteer servers

I was one of the Hospitality volunteers for this year's Out of the Cold program.

I met, chatted with the guests, get to know them and was surprised to find out that many of our guests are very polite, well eloquent, well educated and some have held very responsible positions before.

Soups are being served!

Due to some unfortunate events in their lives such as divorce, being laid off after years of service to their companies, they lost their life savings.

For a couple of small business owners, they were unable to collect from their customers therefore were bankrupted/

 

Serving up the chicken pot pie

Many of our guests are hardworking people who are down on their luck and just need some support during a difficult time in their lives.

The Out of the Cold program runs for a ten week period at a time in a number of churches and charitable agencies. For people who need a hot meal, there are always places that are open and offer this support.




I was glad that I had the opportunity to serve our guests for the past many weeks. Not only have I gained a better understanding of the people we served,  I enjoyed the experience thoroughly interacting with our guests and other volunteers.
I plan to be a part of the Out of the Cold volunteer program again next year.

R.T.
Out of the Cold Program
Markham, Ontario