New homeless centre opening in Leamington

By Mark Ribble

Leamington’s newest homeless centre is hoping to fill some of the gaps not filled by existing hubs when they open their doors on Monday, January 16.

The Leamington Homelessness Drop-In Centre will launch at 6 pm on the 16th at the former Knox Presbyterian Church auditorium as a four-month pilot project by Street Angels.

Street Angels is a program of Feeding Windsor-Essex, and officials will welcome anyone 16+ who is experiencing homelessness into the warmth of the church for food, shelter and activities during the next four months.

Street Angels director Merissa Mills says they are getting set up this week and want to appeal to the community for volunteers.

“We need volunteers to help us keep this going,” she said. “It’s by the community, for the community.”

They are planning a pasta fundraiser for Saturday, January 14 to kick off the program and get to know the community.

The fundraiser will be held in the church auditorium (58 Erie St. South) from 4-6 pm and tickets are $20, available at Family Kitchen restaurant, and also by calling 519-9971556.

According to program coordinator Ryan Alice, the drop-in centre will be a place where people can get what they need in the moment.

“They can sit and tell stories, get some food, snacks-to-go, hot coffee and even get a change of clothes,” said Alice. “We know the need is here and we may find out it’s a lot bigger than we realized.”

Alice and Mills are excited to offer a safe space to those in need and say they will have clothing, sleeping bags and other things available for those who need it.

The centre will operate every day from 6 pm until 10 pm, which augments the services already offered in Leamington’s Homelessness Hub.

“We didn’t want to duplicate services, so we chose to be open in the evening so those people all have somewhere to go,” said Mills.

Street Angels will also use the four-month pilot project to gather data on homelessness in this area so that they can tweak their services as needed and get a better understanding of the homelessness situation in Leamington.

“We know there are people without anywhere to sleep and there are also homeless who couch-surf, but they are still homeless,” she said. “We want to help fill the gaps and if we don’t do it, who will?”

Mills says that 100 per cent of the proceeds from Saturday’s pasta dinner will go toward the dropin-centre and those proceeds will be put to good use two days later when the centre officially opens its doors.

For information on volunteering for this worthwhile cause, call 519-9971556 or email Merissa Mills at streetangelswindsor@gmail.com.

Merissa Mills and Ryan Alice are ready to welcome the homeless into the Leamington Homelessness Drop-In Centre at the former Knox Church auditorium. The project kicks off with a pasta fundraiser on Saturday, January 14. SUN photo