Hundreds of students distribute necessities to the homeless in downtown Toronto
CBC
Wed, December 27, 2023
Over 250 students from across the GTA distributed packages to homeless people in downtown Toronto. (CBC - image credit)
The day after Christmas was "pretty bad" for Michael Pacey, who is actively homeless. He says he was soaked from the rain and had nowhere to shelter himself.
Pacey says the day turned around when he encountered a group of students at Nathan Phillips Square, who handed him a bag full of necessities — nutrition bars, water bottles, toothbrushes and toothpaste, as well as warm clothing.
"It's nice to have something when you're homeless," he said. "It'll be nice to have dry clothes for today."
Some 250 students from high schools and universities across the Greater Toronto Area gathered in downtown Toronto this week to distribute bags full of necessities to people living on the streets and in shelters, as part of the seventh annual Downtown Seva Initiative.
Michael Pacey, who is experiencing homelessness, said the package made "a pretty bad day after Christmas" much better. (CBC)
Care packages in keeping with seva
The Downtown Seva Initiative was started to inspire young people to practice seva, or selfless service, in remembrance of Chaar Sahibzade, the four sons of the 10th Sikh guru, who are known for their martyrdom.
"The reason we are here is to commemorate our 10th guru's sons, who were bricked alive when they were only four and seven years old," said Rajneet Kaur, a young student and volunteer since 2016.
Kaur says the initiative is important to help young Canadians like herself stay connected to their roots. She says it's also important for spreading awareness about their community among Canadians.
"Being born here, and learning about this through my parents and participating in volunteer activities makes me feel really good and connected," she said.
Grade 10 student Gursheen Kaur says it's important for her to make her Gurus proud by practicing seva, meaning selfless service. (CBC)
"This is going to be a life changing year for a lot of people," said fellow volunteer, Gursheen Kaur.
"There is the housing crisis, inflation is high, people have lost their homes and families… a lot of people need help."
Food bank usage smashed another record this year, with more than 2.5 million visits between April 2022 and March 2023 — a 51 per cent increase from the year before — and there are no signs demand is slowing down, according to this year's Who's Hungry report from Daily Bread and North York Harvest food banks.
One of the organizers, Manjinder Nannan, whose kids are also volunteers, says kids need to be exposed to the state of those in need. She says giving the bags to a person themselves rather than dropping them at a donation centre helps them connect.
"Kids can see their lives, and how important food and basic needs are, and learn to help them," Nannan said.
Manjinder Nannan, whose child volunteered, says it's important for kids to hand out packages themselves instead of dropping them at a donation centre so they can connect with people directly. (CBC)
CBC
Wed, December 27, 2023
Over 250 students from across the GTA distributed packages to homeless people in downtown Toronto. (CBC - image credit)
The day after Christmas was "pretty bad" for Michael Pacey, who is actively homeless. He says he was soaked from the rain and had nowhere to shelter himself.
Pacey says the day turned around when he encountered a group of students at Nathan Phillips Square, who handed him a bag full of necessities — nutrition bars, water bottles, toothbrushes and toothpaste, as well as warm clothing.
"It's nice to have something when you're homeless," he said. "It'll be nice to have dry clothes for today."
Some 250 students from high schools and universities across the Greater Toronto Area gathered in downtown Toronto this week to distribute bags full of necessities to people living on the streets and in shelters, as part of the seventh annual Downtown Seva Initiative.
Michael Pacey, who is experiencing homelessness, said the package made "a pretty bad day after Christmas" much better. (CBC)
Care packages in keeping with seva
The Downtown Seva Initiative was started to inspire young people to practice seva, or selfless service, in remembrance of Chaar Sahibzade, the four sons of the 10th Sikh guru, who are known for their martyrdom.
"The reason we are here is to commemorate our 10th guru's sons, who were bricked alive when they were only four and seven years old," said Rajneet Kaur, a young student and volunteer since 2016.
Kaur says the initiative is important to help young Canadians like herself stay connected to their roots. She says it's also important for spreading awareness about their community among Canadians.
"Being born here, and learning about this through my parents and participating in volunteer activities makes me feel really good and connected," she said.
Grade 10 student Gursheen Kaur says it's important for her to make her Gurus proud by practicing seva, meaning selfless service. (CBC)
"This is going to be a life changing year for a lot of people," said fellow volunteer, Gursheen Kaur.
"There is the housing crisis, inflation is high, people have lost their homes and families… a lot of people need help."
Food bank usage smashed another record this year, with more than 2.5 million visits between April 2022 and March 2023 — a 51 per cent increase from the year before — and there are no signs demand is slowing down, according to this year's Who's Hungry report from Daily Bread and North York Harvest food banks.
One of the organizers, Manjinder Nannan, whose kids are also volunteers, says kids need to be exposed to the state of those in need. She says giving the bags to a person themselves rather than dropping them at a donation centre helps them connect.
"Kids can see their lives, and how important food and basic needs are, and learn to help them," Nannan said.
Manjinder Nannan, whose child volunteered, says it's important for kids to hand out packages themselves instead of dropping them at a donation centre so they can connect with people directly. (CBC)
Housing advocates and medical experts say not enough is being done to help people experiencing homelessness as temperatures drop across the GTA
Elianna Lev
December 20, 2023
Housing advocates and medical experts say not enough is being done to help people experiencing homelessness as temperatures drop across the Greater Toronto Area — or throughout the rest of the year.
On Dec. 18, the city's warming centres remained closed, despite temperatures feeling like -10 with the windchill. The threshold to open the facilities is -5 C, and does not include windchill, or when Environment and Climate Change Canada issues a winter weather event warning.
According to the city of Toronto, warming centres are meant to “provide safe, warm indoor spaces for individuals to rest and access snacks, washroom facilities and referrals to emergency shelters and other community services." These facilities operate from November 15 to April 15. Only three warming centres are in operation this year throughout the GTA — downtown, in North York and in Scarborough. A fourth, in the Annex neighbourhood north of downtown Toronto, is current closed for renovations.
'Need for adequate shelter is year-round'
Advocates say that these services, along with shelters and other places of respite, are severely overcrowded and more urgently needs to be done to keep people safe.
Mika Wee is an organizer and steering committee member with Shelter and Housing Justice Network (SHJN). She says the threshold of opening the warming centres “should absolutely be changed” and that the city has been wildly inconsistent when making the decision to open — or not open — warming centres.
“It's important to recognize that the city is already failing to comply with their own standard of the -5 C, which was actually changed from the previous winter threshold of -15 C or -20 C with windchill after strong advocacy efforts from a number of community advocates,” she wrote in an email to Yahoo Canada.
The SHJN is demanding the city shift warming centres to act as low-barrier, year-round 24-hour respites, with surge capacity for extreme weather conditions.
“The need for adequate shelter is year-round, not only when temperatures reach -5 C,”
Wee says.
SHJN's proposed alternative winter plan found that as of fall 2023, there were a total of 9,079 available shelter beds and approximately 11,930 unhoused people who had accessed the shelter system at least once during the last three months. This equals to 300 daily callers who weren’t able to access a bed and an average of 293 turned away from indoor spaces on a daily basis.
Wee says this inadequacy also fails to address the thousands of refugees staying outside of the shelter system, the over 700 people sleeping outdoors according to a 2021 report, and the hidden homeless population, which refers to people who live "temporarily with others but without guarantee of continued residency or immediate prospects for accessing permanent housing."
TORONTO, ON- JANUARY 31 - The Warming Centre at Metro Hall. The Torontos Medical Officer of Health has issued an Extreme Cold Weather Alert for the next few days that has triggered extra hours and extra spaces open for respite in Toronto. January 31, 2023. (Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty Images)
Doctor: 'Majority of cold-related injuries happen around between zero degrees and -5'
Samantha Green, a family physician in Toronto, agrees that more facilities need to be available, and not only when the extreme cold hits.
“The majority of cold-related injuries happen around between zero degrees and -5,” she tells Yahoo Canada. “People experience frostbite, and exposure to the cold can also lead to hypothermia, as well as exacerbate chronic conditions, like asthma or chronic heart disease, and of course mental illness." .
Green would like to see the city convert warming centres into year-round drop-in respite centres, which are open 24 hours a day, regardless of the temperature.
“The threshold of -5 is arbitrary as we’ve seen and they don’t really work,” Green says. “It shows the city doesn’t really respond when the temperature does drop below -5.”
She adds that year-round facilities would also help people during extreme heat and exposure to wildfire smoke in the summer.
The city doesn’t really respond when the temperature does drop below -5.
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