Several weeks ago we had 4 or 5 calls in the same day about a particular person in the hospital area.  Hilda, one of our advocates who was on call, went out to see if she could find him and see what we could do.

Randy's story begins in Alberta. (not his real name) We know that Randy got a ride from a well meaning lady who was travelling from the west back home to Manitoba.  It's unclear how these two connected or what Randy's motivations were for coming to Manitoba, but we do know he arrived with no ID and only the clothes on his back. With his medications not readily accessible Randy eventually found himself first at the Ste. Anne Hospital, and then the hospital in Steinbach. When his condition stabilized he was released. With no where to turn he set up camp in front of the hospital.

We often get calls about people who are strangers who are stranded in Steinbach.  When someone in unfortunate circumstances finds their way into town the easy thing to do is bring them to Winnipeg and drop them off at one of the shelters there.  However at Outreach there's quite a process when we help  stranded strangers. It's a process that can take anywhere from one afternoon to several weeks so we can ensure we are helping this person in the best way possible. The most important question in this process is "What do you want to happen and how can we help make that happen?" 

After a lengthy conversation with Randy he said he would return to his friend's house, which was quite a ways out of town; the woman who had brought him here.  Hilda tried to phone the friend multiple times but got no answer so he said he would go anyway and maybe by the time he got there she would be home.  Hilda also brought Randy some food, paid for his meds and called a cab to bring him back to his friend's place.

A couple of days later we had several calls again about Randy.  His friend had not let him stay so he had made his way back to town and was again camped in front of the hospital. Again we sat down with him and discussed various options.  He had spent a couple of nights in the hospital but was now sleeping rough so a plan was made to try Main Street Project. He was able to crash at someone's house that night and Irene drove him to Winnipeg the next morning.  Randy found Main Street Project overwhelming so he phoned the friend who had brought him to Manitoba and she came and picked him up and dropped him back in Steinbach.

Once again we had calls about Randy.  This was a gentleman who was truly stranded in a way that we had never seen anyone stranded before. He was getting good care at the hospital, but had nowhere to turn on his release.  We continued to try connecting with friends and family, including the woman who had brought him to Manitoba and finally connected with his sister.  He desperately wanted to get back to Alberta but with Covid travel restrictions and no ID, getting him there seemed nearly impossible.

In Randy's case he had a sister that was willing to pay for a plane ticket or bus ticket to get him home, but Randy had no ID and we do not have connections in Alberta to get copies of his ID.  We also know from experience that it takes up to 6 months to get new copies of ID for people.  Getting on a bus or plane without ID is not possible so that was not an option for Randy.

Picking someone up from afar and dropping them in Steinbach may seem like a good and helpful thing to do, because we have a very generous city, but often it does more harm than good.  It takes them away from resources they are already familiar with, like what day of the week the store tosses their expired food out, and the bank teller that recognizes him because he already lost his debit card 20 times this year and knows how to help him, or which restaurant will give him a free cup of coffee on a rainy day. He had really good benefits set up with EIA in Alberta to support him, but here in Manitoba he could not access those funds.

We had a team of 6 people coming up with ideas and options with Randy but there was really only one option that was viable.  To get him back to his sister in Alberta where his resources and support system were.  But how if you can't get on a bus or a plane? It wouldn't be responsible to send someone hitchhiking in the middle of a pandemic and even if he did want to hitchhike we doubted he would survive that journey.  There was only one thing to do. We would have to drive him.
Let me be clear here.  We are a local charity serving only Steinbach and surrounding areas.  The farthest we go is Winnipeg and then only if circumstances require it and if no other arrangements can be made.  We are not a bus service that transports people inter-provincially.  So, after several more days of making arrangements and checking restrictions, Irene and Tammy, our most experienced advocates, volunteered their time on a weekend and use of their own vehicle, in the middle of a pandemic when travel restrictions were at their tightest, to drive Randy back.  This is WAY above and beyond what we expect from our volunteers but it goes to show the level of dedication and commitment of our staff, and the amount of time and energy it takes to help a stranger who gets stranded on the streets in Steinbach, to a place where they feel supported both physically and mentally.

While most of us are gearing up for summer, we here at SCO are also thinking towards the fall.  As with many organizations we don't know what post pandemic programming will look like, but we are anticipating a greater need and hope to expand our drop in center hours.
If you are interested in joining a dynamic, committed team of volunteers we would love to chat with you. We are looking for people to help out at our drop in center handing out food and hygiene hampers, sorting through donations and connecting with our guests.  If you can spare a couple of hours a week just fill out a form or send us an email at steinbachoutreach@gmail.com and we will connect with you over the next couple of weeks.
We look forward to meeting you!

It's stinkin' hot outside these days folks!
Whenever we get extreme temperatures we get people coming in looking for a place to hang out and cool off.  At first we weren't sure how we would manage to accommodate this, with covid restrictions limiting the amount of people we can have in our space, so we were very pleased when we heard the most recent restrictions made exceptions for drop in centers to become cooling centers for people who are street involved.  We are also able to hand out bottles of water. Hooray! As long as our guests are able to stay 6 feet apart they can come in, cool off and rehydrate. 
As a drop in center we are one of the few places allowed to be open right now.  Restaurants are closed to people sitting inside, same with the library.  So on a hot day we get quite a few people popping in to cool off, use the wifi, and often sleep on one of our couches, because it's exhausting wandering the streets when it's +35 out there.  And every time someone comes in they ask for water.  So if anyone has any water bottles they can donate we would love to accept them and pass them out to the people who come in to use our drop in center as a place to cool off.
A case of water bottles only costs $2 to $3 dollars.  If you are able to add a case to your grocery shop this week and drop it off at 345 Loewen Blvd, (blue doors on the west side of the building) that would be fantastic! Our guests would certainly appreciate it.
The majority of our guests have to walk everywhere they go, so by the time they get to Outreach to get help with whatever they need help with, or to pick up their food, they are hot and parched from the long walk over.  We actually go through quite a few water bottles every day trying to keep people cool and safe.
So if you have any bottled water you can spare, we would love to pass it on to our guests.

 Calling all gardeners!  As you plant your garden this year consider planting a row with the intention of  donating whatever grows in that row to charity.  Designate one row as the SCO row and whatever goodies grow there, donate to Outreach this fall. Your $2 packet of seeds combined with a little bit of dirty knees and mud under your fingernails would really mean a lot to a family who doesn't otherwise have access to fresh fruits and vegetables.  

If you are planting with us in mind here's a list of our guests favorite garden veggies:

• potatoes
• corn on the cob
• carrots
• onions
• peas
• beans
• tomatoes
• lettuce
• berries - any kind of berries if you have extra!

We will accept any extra garden produce you have and pass them on to our guests in need.
The majority of our guests live in apartments and don't have garden space available to them. Yet everyone loves to snack on fresh vegetables when they can get their hands on them.  Because who doesn't love to participate in the abundance of a fall harvest?

Also, if you are clearing out last years produce and canned goods from your freezer and pantry shelves to make room for this year's harvest we will happily accept these goods as well.  Our guests love jams and preserves and our cooks use frozen veggies in the casseroles and soups they cook up for the people we serve.

So join us at the harvest table and help us fill the horn of plenty that we might share your abundant harvest with people in need. 

Many great things happen at Outreach but none of them would happen without the hard work and dedication of our volunteers.  Being a volunteer at Outreach is like joining a second family.  Everyone works together to help each other out; guests and volunteers alike. 

I'd like to introduce you to Deb, one of our newest volunteers.
Deb has been here for two months as an advocate.  An advocate helps our guests work through their problems.  Their problems could be things like getting on to social assistance, finding an affordable apartment, getting ID, and pretty much anything they need help with.
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"I was inspired by a news article about the coffee boy who was concerned about the homeless in the cold and wanted to do something, so he set up a coffee stand for people waiting in line at Outreach.  I was sitting at home, during Covid and recently retired and thought this was something I would like to do with my daughter.  A couple of weeks later my daughter and I served coffee to people waiting in line outside at SCO.  I was so impressed with the warmth and welcoming atmosphere at Outreach and I felt like I wanted to become a part of it, make a difference, to help, to give back.  After that first day of working alongside Irene and Myra I really felt called to be here." ~Deb

There are many reasons people come to volunteer at SCO.  Quite a few of our volunteers are recently retired 55+ people who are looking to fill their time by giving back to the community.  A handful are young adults looking for work experience that is also self fulfilling.  A bunch of our volunteers are also our guests who are looking to give back to the place that has helped them out so much.

We have a lot of fun here at Outreach and learn many surprising things during our time here.
"What has surprised me the most is the high number of women in domestic violence situations who come to us and are homeless. Also the number of men and women with mental health challenges.  I expected the majority of guests to be homeless as a result of addictions, but this isn't the case.  Each person has a unique story that deserves to be heard." ~Deb

There are tons of jobs that volunteers help with at Outreach.  There are always donations that need sorting, food and hygiene hampers to hand out, food that needs to be made into casseroles, and furniture to be moved, but the most important job is simply connecting with our guests over a cup of coffee.  If you would like to come by and see what we do, meet our guests, and perhaps join our team of volunteers please send an email to Myra at steinbachoutreach@gmail.com.  We would love to connect with you!

The other day the gentleman who delivers our bread came in with our usual order.  As I collected our boxes of bread from him he explained he had met someone on his route this morning.  They had struck up a conversation and it was obvious the person was homeless.  So our delivery man said he knew of a place that could possibly help and offered the man a ride to our drop in centre.
The person who came through the doors was the quintessential picture of a homeless man.  He was tall and scruffy looking with an unkempt beard and two green reusable bags stuffed with all of his worldly belongings slung over his shoulder.  
I introduced myself and invited him to have a seat and warm up.  He placed his bags on floor within direct sight of where he was sitting and shared his story.
He was quite an interesting character.  At different points in the conversation he described himself as an inventor and a researcher of people.  He said the bread man had asked him if he was homeless, but he wasn't homeless, he was travelling.  He preferred to sleep rough in order to reduce his carbon footprint.  I asked him where he'd slept last night and he named a spot we were familiar with in the bushes next to the library. It's amazing to me how even out of towners have an instinct for finding the places in town to sleep to get out of the wind. The previous couple of nights he'd slept in other places familiar to us.  An entryway where the heat blew straight down on you and an atm vestibule.
He was headed from BC to Ontario where he would stop and see his sister before he decided where to go next.  On the way he wanted to interact with all the cultures and had come to Steinbach looking for Mennonites. He'd been in town for a few days but hadn't noticed any.  I explained that the Mennonites around here looked and acted just normal people every where else.  It wasn't like the old days of horse and buggy.  He looked a little disappointed but then said maybe he'd find some Amish on his travels.  I suggested he look around the Vita area south of here.
He stayed with us at the drop in center all day that day, mostly doing research on human behavior at our computer station by watching Youtube videos, music videos and reading articles online.  He had a habit of sucking the flavouring off of potato chips for his lunch and then discarding the soggy chips afterwards.  He also enjoyed a tin of meat with his meal when it was offered to him. He came back to the drop in center every day for about a week, watching the people come and go and visiting with our regulars, until one day he didn't.  We heard he was spotted south of Grunthal with his two large green bags hooked over his shoulder.  I like to think he was on his way to spot some Amish.
Every once in a while we get a person through here who is simply a traveler making their way across the country.  They always have an interesting story to share and a world view that makes one pause and assess their own point of view.  Is it sleeping rough or is it eliminating your carbon footprint?  Is it goofing off online or is it the study of human behaviour?

​Not everyone who comes through our doors is homeless.  In fact a large chunk of the people who come through our doors are working people who have homes but struggle to put food on the table.  They come in to get help with food, clothing, resumes, and a bunch of other things that have nothing to do with housing.
Last week I was speaking with DeeDee (not her real name) who had come in to pick up a food hamper.  DeeDee does work, but it’s very difficult to raise a family on one income with a minimum wage job.  She was saying that Tuesdays she eats at Soups On, every other Wednesday is Helping Hands and the alternate Wednesdays she has a co-worker who invites her over for supper, Thursdays she picks up food from Outreach and Fridays is Soups On again.  Saturday to Monday she makes do with whatever is left in the fridge.  
The simple fact is that the majority of the people who access our services survive this way.  They are choosing between buying their groceries or paying their hydro bill each month.
The other day I was speaking with Nancy (also not her real name).  She comes in every couple of weeks to file her report for EI/CERB online because she doesn’t have internet access at home.  Both DeeDee and Nancy have been laid off of work due to covid and both of them said they make more on CERB than they did working.  They have been putting that extra money towards paying off debts and are finally able to pay all of their bills and still have a some left over for the extra groceries they need to get through the week.
Neither of them is at ease though. Both of them realize they will owe money at tax time.  It was quite an adjustment for them when they started collecting CERB.  At first, to realize that they didn’t have to scrimp and count every dime, and that they could pay all of their bills as they were due was a huge mental 180 for them.  When you see that big CERB payment in your bank account that easily doubled what you earned working, it’s hard to resist the urge to splurge.  To realize that is what the government thinks the average person in Canada earns and that you are no where near that is heartbreaking.  At first these ladies were scared to get comfortable with that money because they were waiting for the other shoe to drop.  Then they did get comfortable, but now as restrictions are lifting, they are preparing themselves to go back to scrimping because when they return to work they will also return to living on half of what they are getting from CERB.
When covid first started we thought the number of people coming to Outreach for help would go up, but in fact the opposite happened.  Our numbers went down.  We suspect this happened because the majority of our working poor were able to afford to buy their own groceries and clothing when they went on CERB.  These are the people who work as cleaners in hotels, dishwashers in restaurants, EA’s, daycare helpers, casual workers, seasonal workers, and other various minimum wage jobs.  These are responsible, contentious people who are normally struggling to make their way through life trying to raise a family on one income with a minimum wage job.  As restrictions lift and our guests return to work our numbers are starting to rise again.  The pandemic has been hard, but it did provide a moment of relief for some.  Most of us are looking forward to the time when life can return back to normal, but for some their normal life is actually more of a struggle than their pandemic life.  I only hope that when this is all over that our decision makers recognize stories like this and that it influences them to make decisions that will strengthen and uplift our social network.

Our free income tax clinic opens today!  If your income is less than $35000 we will file your taxes for free. 
Call Charlene at 204-380-2692 to book a time.

Taxes + Covid = Physical distancing
Because of covid we've got things set up a little differently this year.  We are really encouraging people to make appointments so that we can manage how many people we have in our space at one time.  When you come in for your appointment just let a volunteer know why you are there and they will take you to an area in the back so we can physical distance properly and keep the front end open to those needing to access our food and clothing areas.  We will have masks available for those who need them.
Walk ins will still be accepted if we have the time and space to see you, but it's best to make an appointment so you don't end up having to wait a few hours in the parking lot.

What to bring
When you come to your appointment please bring your

• T4s or T5007 or whatever official statements of income apply to you
• T4A if you collected CERB, CRB, CPP, or withdrew pension or T4RSP if you drew from your RRSPs
• Any official receipts for prescriptions, optometrists or daycare that you paid for out of your own pocket
• Rent reciept
• receipts for money you donated or put into RRSPs
• addresses for all the places you've lived since the last time you filed taxes
• and of course know your SIN

If you haven't filed your taxes in a few years you may have money owing to you.  We do file taxes for previous years so if you need to taxes for a few years back bring along all the paperwork you can find for those years.

Today I’d like to tell you a story about someone we’ve been working with for quite a few years.  Jack (not his real name) first found himself homeless right around 15 years old after his family got evicted from their apartment.  He comes from a broken home and both parents struggle with addictions.  In the summer between grade 9 and 10 Jack dropped out of school and spent his days hanging out at friends places playing video games.  Jack made his way through life couch surfing and crashing at friends places until a year and a half ago.
One chilly evening in October  Myra was driving down the road and saw Jack and his girlfriend sitting on the corner.  She recognized Jack from when he’d come in to Outreach a couple of times and stopped to say hello.  Immediately she realized something was wrong.  They literally had their head in their hands, their shoulders were slumped.  All of their body language screamed “help me.”  As Myra got closer she realized Jack had been crying.  When you know somebody who is usually dancing and jumping around Outreach, and see them in a state like this it really weighs heavy on your heart.  Turns out they had no place to go that night and didn’t know what they were going to do.  Here’s a young guy who has hit rock bottom before he’d even turned 20. Myra gave them the number for Today House with detailed instructions for what to do and told them to come to Outreach the next morning.  They never did make it in to Today House that night, but they did come in to Outreach the next morning.  The team got busy figuring out a plan that would work for them.
Jack had no money, no bank account, no ID, nothing.  He had lived off of whatever he could find in that moment.  All those things that parents and teachers do to help our kids with throughout their teenage years,  so they can become self sufficient adults, had not been done with Jack.  At the point Jack came in to Outreach at 19 years old he had been a homeless youth for about 5 years.
Not having ID or any source of income is pretty common when you are homeless.  Especially if you are a homeless youth.  Here’s how it works…
You can’t rent an apartment unless you have a source of income.  You can’t get on to EIA (welfare) unless you have a bank account.  You can’t get a bank account unless you have ID.  You can’t get ID unless you have an address.  It’s a vicious cycle.  Most youth use their parent’s address when they get their first pieces of ID, but Jack’s dad was homeless as well at this point and his mom was out of the province.  He had no friends that had stable addresses or that he would trust with his ID when it would be mailed to them. It’s a pretty labour intensive process trying to prove that someone is a real person so that they can get ID. It can take a month or more. Only then we can start the process of getting them a bank account and on to EIA and into an apartment.  Eventually we were able to find him a place with roommates that he could afford.
So as Irene was working through this process with Jack many more things came to light.  Irene used to be a resource teacher and red flags kept popping up that made her resource teacher brain kick in.  She did some digging and using the connections she had at HSD, she tracked down Jack’s assessments from elementary school.  Sure enough early on Jack had had evaluations done and was diagnosed with low IQ and other disorders.  All of this combined meant Jack couldn’t recognize when he had a problem, much less identify who he needed to reach out to get help solving his problems.  He can’t read or write or plan ahead.  He simply lives in the moment.  When he’s hungry he eats whatever food happens to be around.  When he’s tired he sleeps on whatever couch he happens to be sitting on.  Had he gone to high school he would’ve been involved with resource who would have come up with a plan for life after graduation, and would have connected him with adult services (CLDS), but because he’d dropped out before he got to high school that never did happen for him.  About a year ago Irene began the process of trying to connect him with CLDS (Community Living Disability Services). 
Things were going well for Jack for about a year.  He was settled and had a routine.  Then covid hit.  Jack and his roommates used to go out to party, but they couldn’t do that anymore.  Nothing was open.  Hanging out anywhere, outside or in was not allowed anymore.  So they partied at home which led to their eviction.  Stressed out because he was back to couch surfing Jack began cutting himself.  Myra and Jack have made many trips to the hospital, talked to mental health workers and called CSU many times but they keep sending him back out the doors.  They don’t have room or resources for him either.  They are too overworked.  
A recently retired resource teacher began volunteering with us a couple of months ago and it became her job to leverage her connections with CLDS and phone them every week to push his application forward.  A year after the initial application went in and after several weeks of persistent calls and emails we finally got a response.  Applications had to be resent and resent again.  Delays caused by covid didn’t help much either.  The verdict came back that they wanted to help but he would not qualify because his evaluations were too old.  He had to have new ones which you couldn’t get unless you have a social worker, and he does not.  As an adult he could pay $3000 to get them done at one place, or wait for years to get them free at the other place.  When you are homeless you don’t have $3000 or years to wait.  However, after a lot of back and forth we did manage to get a number for the person in charge of the assessments at the free place, to see what exceptions could be made because of the urgency of his situation.  Obviously everyone wants to help so negotiations are taking place and things are looking hopeful.  In the meantime Jack has applied to a rehab program and a local church is willing to sponsor half the cost.  We are just waiting to hear back to see if he is accepted.
Jack’s story really illustrates how easy it is for people to fall between the gaps in the system.  He doesn’t quite meet this criteria, or quite fit the profile for that program, and the third place wants to help but he doesn’t quite meet their requirements either.  It has taken a team of people and several volunteers leveraging their connections and doing quite a bit of arm twisting, just to get this far. If it wasn’t for them Jack’s story would surely end in suicide.  

Just yesterday we had an email from a young family who have often seen a man walking in their neighborhood and around town.  This man had a scraggly beard, torn jacket and always carried a Sobeys shopping bag with him wherever he went.  They really wanted to help him out and asked our advice on the best way to give him assistance.

Recently Steinbach Online shared Marc Penner's story about what it was like to sleep out in the Manitoba cold last week.  Fortunately he was able to get into Today House and has plans to move into an apartment in the near future.  However it's far too often that we hear stories of people hunkering down outdoors for the night in whatever sheltered place they can find.

Here's a list of 12 things you can do to help out someone who is sleeping rough in the frigid cold.​
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1. A Hot Bowl of Soup:  I'll never forget one chilly day in late October one of our chronic homeless friends came in and said he'd had the best day ever yesterday!  He'd been hanging out in a small park all afternoon and was just leaving when a lady came running out of her house and chased him down.  At first he was nervous she'd yell at him for being a nuisance, but it turns out she'd been watching him from her kitchen window all day whilst cooking soup for supper and wanted him to have a bowl.  She shoved a monster sized steaming hot bowl of borscht into his hands and chatted with him at the park while he ate.  It was the best thing that had happened to him that month.  Putting soup in a to go mug works too if you're not wanting to hang around so you can have your bowl back.
2. Hand & Feet Warmers:  Giving someone those little heat packs that you can stick in your mitts and socks is always appreciated.  They are ideal for keeping your body warm when the weather is not.
3. Socks:  We have one guy that takes as many socks as we will let him every time he comes in.  Once I asked him what he did with all those socks all the time.  Turns out you can double them up on your hands for mittens, tie them together around your head to make an ear warmer, use them as oven mitts when you're heating food over a fire, and a few other things that I won't mention publicly.  Then there's the fact that when you live out of a backpack you don't have a place to do laundry so once they're crunchy you toss them and take out new ones.
4. Small heater: We've been getting a lot of requests recently for small space heaters.  For those people who are camping out in a shed or garage a small space heater makes sleeping rough slightly more bearable.  It might be weird if you ran up to some random person on the street and offered them a heater, but if you want to drop one off at Outreach we can gladly pass it on to people we know who need them.
5. Tarp: A tarp can be put under a sleeping bag to keep the moisture from the ground seeping up or tossed over a park bench or tree branches as a makeshift tent to keep out the wind.
6. Buy them a Sandwich instead of Giving Cash:  We recommend that you do not give out cash.  If you are approached by someone on the street offer to buy them a sandwich at the nearest cafe instead.
7. Blankets:  Blankets or sleeping bags are always appreciated.  Our guests recommend ones that are small enough to be stuffed into a backpack, but are warm enough to sleep in the snow.  However when they are indoors either couch surfing they revel in the luxury of a puffy queen sized blanket.
8. Giftcards: A while ago I overheard a few of our guests sharing stories about getting kicked out of 24 hour restaurants and gas stations because they don't have the money to buy something when they go in there at night to get out of the cold.  If you choose to buy a giftcard we recommend a $10 card to Tim Hortons, McDonalds or gas stations so they can purchase something hot and justify their place at the table.  Gas station cards are especially welcomed by those people who are living in their cars.
9. Mini First Aid Kits: Having a few bandages and swabs on hand when you are living rough is always useful. Fingers have nearly been lost when one is trying to open a tin can with a jackknife. 
10. Hand Sanitizer: Even before Covid having a small bottle of hand sanitizer is useful for those times when you can't access a sink and soap.  
11. Waterproof Mittens:  Knitted mittens are nice but when you are shoveling driveways for extra cash and walking everywhere you go you really need warm mitts that keep out the wind and wet snow.  
12. Hoodies:  Hoodies provide an extra layer of warmth and can be pulled up over the head in the absence of a toque.

Small gestures can make a person's day.  We are currently working with a dozen or so homeless people who are couch surfing or sleeping rough.  The extreme cold and covid make it difficult but we do what we can and hope for the best.