Halloween at Shepherds of Good Hope

On Halloween, we always make an effort to ensure we have some candy to give out to the clients. Some of our staff will dress up and make the rounds to deliver candy. We also get a fair number of people donating candy to us after Halloween. Thank you so much. We look forward to those donations.

Today, a group from Foreign Affairs, including George Wieringa,Deputy Director, Operations, Strategic Planning and Operations Division, Latin America and Caribbean, dropped by the soup Kitchen at 233 Murray St. with several bags of candy for us to hand out tomorrow. Thank you so much everyone. I hope everyone has a great Halloween.

Looking for sheets and blankets

We had great response yesterday to our Facebook post about sheets and blankets. Basically, we're hoping there are people out there who can donate sheets and blankets to us.

Although we do run everything through the laundry, nothing lasts forever and there are times when you need to replace certain items. Sheets and blankets are important because they help us provide one of the most basic needs for homeless men and women -- shelter.

There's more to providing a bed than just ensuring there is a mattress. Every bed needs clean sheets each day and we need blankets.

If you're able to help, please call me at 613-789-8210, ext. 247. If you need someone to pick up your donation, please call Dan at 613-789-8210, ext. 240.

Thanks to our Facebook friends who have committed to making a donation.

Businesses that do their part

I think it's great that I have several opportunities a week to blog about local businesses that do their part of help Shepherds of Good Hope. Whether it's coming down for a volunteer session, organizing a food drive or collecting money for allowing people to wear jeans during the workday, it all goes to helping us care for the men and women who come through our doors every day.

Recently, Royal Lepage Team Reality, owned by Kent and Gail Browne, had a party for the clients. When it was over, they had a lot of food left. So they turned to us. We didn't hesitate to accept their donation. With November just around the corner, the planning has already started for a lot of local businesses to have holiday or Christmas lunches, parties, events and so on. If you find you've ordered too much, you don't have to throw it out. We can use that food. If you had it catered, your food likely came on trays with plastic wrap or some sort of covering. Just pack it up and bring it to Shepherds of Good Hope.

For Kent and Gail, not only did they serve their clients with some great food, but they also ensured some of Ottawa's less fortunate people also got to enjoy a nice meal. Thank you!

I'm getting to know a lot of people at MaxSys. Every month, someone from their office drops by to donate the proceeds of their jeans day. This week it was Stephanie Csizmadi. This is the third month in a row company representatives have popped in and we love seeing you every time. Keep up the great fundraising work.

I've used MaxSys before as an example of how easy it is for your office or department to raise funds for some of Ottawa's most vulnerable people. At MaxSys, each division across Canada is invited to participate in jeans day. To wear jeans to the office, you have to contribute $5 to that division's charity fund. Company President Bryan Brulotte then matches the donation. See how easy that is? And it does so much good to help the clients at Shepherds of Good Hope.

Clients get a special meal

The men and women who come to our soup kitchen never complain. They're thankful for a meal. But even though they're grateful, it's still nice when we can serve them something different than usual. Today, thanks to a donation from Creative Kosher, we were able to serve trout.

I was in the soup kitchen when the first clients walked in and the look on their faces when they saw what we were serving almost brought tears to my eyes. These are some of Ottawa's most vulnerable men and women. I'd love to be able to serve them meals like this every day. Take a look at these photos.

Sandwich donation from St. Theresa's Catholic School

Wow! The two Grade 6 classes at St. Theresa's Catholic School outdid themselves this year. The students made more than 600 sandwiches for Shepherds of Good Hope. This is the power of youth. Here are a few photos from this morning's event at the school.

From heartbreaking to heartwarming

This story has been getting a lot of attention on social media. It's the story of a woman whose wedding was cancelled at the last minute after the groom got cold feet. The family had prepaid for the wedding reception dinner. Rather than let it go to waste, the family invited homeless people to have the food instead.

I'm sure the young women is still dealing with her called-off marriage. But she took a bad situation and turned it into a good situation for other people.

I see people all the time making donations to our back door. I get phone calls from people asking how they can donate clothing, small household items and so on. There are all kinds of reasons why people want to donate. But the overriding one is that people simply want to help people who are less fortunate than themselves. I don't always know why they picked up that phone or got into their car, but I know what they are trying to accomplish. They are trying to do something nice for someone else.

As we move deeper into fall and closer to the holiday season, what nice thing will you do this year to help someone who doesn't have as much as you? Check out our donation page on the different ways you can help homeless people in Ottawa.

I read an interesting article on the Globe and Mail website about how one Montreal organization is trying to help people understand the issue of homelessness by having them talk to a homeless person.

Basically, what happened is this group found a public spot to set up a table with two chairs. On one side is a homeless person, on the other side is someone who isn't homeless. They are each given a bowl of soup to eat and then encouraged to talk to each other. The goal is to help the non-homeless people better understand what homeless men and women are going through.

There is a moderator to help get the conversation going or to step in if things get too uncomfortable.

I've always said there is no better way to understand the work we do than to come down and take a tour. When people take a tour, their eyes are opened. The most common thing I hear is: I didn't know you did all of this.

But the tours aren't just an opportunity to show off everything we do. More importantly, we want people to have a better understanding of how complex the issue of homelessness is, how much support the homeless often need, and the amount of help we need from the community to make it happen day after day.

If you would like a tour, please contact me at 613-789-8210, ext. 247 or at asilverman@shepherdsofgoodhope.com. If you would like to help support the work we do, you can make a donation here.

The power of schools

Every now and then I like to talk about the amount of donations and volunteer time students give to us. This morning we had students from Sacred Heart High School in the kitchen helping with meal preparation. Back at the school, students were also preparing sandwiches. Last year, Sacred Heart High School made more than 5,500 sandwiches for us. Thank you so much to the students at Sacred Heart.

Not to be outdone, students at St. Matthew's High School recently had a canned food drive. Here's a photo below that best shows how much came through our drop-off window. Wow! Amazing. Whether it's feeding the men and women who live in the shelter or helping people in the community who need a little extra, donations like this mean the world to us. Thank you so much.

Last week we had the students in Patrick Dumais' class at College catholique Franco-Ouest donate several boxes of vegetables and fruits, plus more than $150, just in time for Thanksgiving.

I want to say thank you to all the schools who have donated food or made sandwiches so far this year.

Another successful Thanksgiving

Thank you to all the staff, volunteers and clients who made for another wonderful Thanksgiving. Everyone had a fabulous meal. Thank you to Liberal MPP Yasir Naqvi and Councillor Mathieu Fleury for stopping by to help on the serving line. Here are some photos from Monday's event.

Happy Thanksgiving

It's a late Friday afternoon and I know everyone is looking forward to the long weekend. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

I also want to thank everyone who donated to us this Thanksgiving season. On Monday, we will feed more people than we normally do on a regular weekday. No one wants to be alone on the holiday and our doors are open to anyone who wants to share in community and enjoy a good meal. It couldn't happen without the support we get from the community.

So enjoy Thanksgiving. I'll leave you with this cute photo from our food services program.

Homelessness and mental health

I found this article recently on the number of homeless people who suffer from mental illness in California. If you've been following the news lately, you might know that there are many Californian cities struggling with homelessness. In fact, earlier this month, the city of Los Angeles declared a state of emergency over homelessness.

What struck me is the number of people who are homeless who also suffer from mental health issues. It's a vicious circle. Dealing with mental health can be one of the factors that leads to homelessness, but once homeless, it makes it so much more difficult to cope with that mental health challenge.

At Shepherds of Good Hope we are partnered up with various organizations like Ottawa Inner City Health and Canadian Mental Health Association to ensure that together we deliver the care needs for homeless men and women in Ottawa who are also struggling with mental health issues.

We know for some that the road to more independent housing might take a little longer. But that's okay. We're there every step of the way with them, ensuring they get the care they need.

If you would like more information about what we do at Shepherds of Good Hope, please don't hesitate to contact me at 613-789-8210, ext. 247 or asilverman@shepherdsofgoodhope.com.

To make a donation to one of our many programs and services that help 1,600 men and women every day, please visit our donation page.

More photos from Quota

I blogged yesterday about how third party events do so much for us. We really appreciate the effort people make to help raise funds for Shepherds of Good Hope so that we can keep caring for so many homeless men and women in the city.

I wanted to share with you a few more photos from Night at the Races, an event organized by The Quota Club of Ottawa.

Thank you to the women at Quota

The Quota Club of Ottawa held its 18th annual Night at the Races event Sunday night. This year their goal was to raise money for women's services at Shepherds of Good Hope.

It was a fantastic event and I really enjoyed myself. We started off with a buffet meal at 6 pm and then the races started at 6:30. We even got a special treat to ride in the pace car. I met some wonderful people and had a chance to catch up with some people I see here and there around Ottawa.

Although this is the 18th year in a row the Quota Club of Ottawa has held the event, the organization has a long history in the capital. They have been serving the community for 69 years!

We are thrilled with the number of groups each year that hold third-party events to raise money to help us do out work. Thank you to the Quota Club of Ottawa for a wonderful event.

Generating buzz about MAP

Sometimes things just never get old. Earlier this week, we got an alert about a story on Shepherds of Good Hope and its managed alcohol program. Interesting.

When I clicked on the headline, I discovered the story and video was done in 2011. I read it anyway and found it to be a powerful story and a straight forward look at what we do. I know I've blogged several times about our managed alcohol program and we've done stories for our website and Facebook page, but there seems to be a lot of interest in this program.

We have experts across Canada and around the world who come to visit us to find out more about the program. But we also have a lot of donors or people who follow us on social media who are also very interested. When we posted that 2011 story and video on Facebook earlier this week, I was astounded with how many people commented or read the story. I'm so happy with how many people are taking an interested in some of our more innovative programs.

I believe that if you know more about what we do and how it helps Ottawa's homeless population, then you will be more comfortable helping us out, either with a donation of cash or a donation of goods. The reason we prefer financial donations is that as a large shelter that serves 1,600 men and women every day, we have some buying power that most individuals don't have.

Meanwhile, in case you haven't seen the story, here's a link. And here's a link to the donation page. Please consider making a donation this fall. The donation you make goes to helping so many of Ottawa's most in-need men and women.

If you would like to know more about Shepherds of Good Hope or would like to book a tour, please contact me at 613-897-8210, ext. 247 or by email at asilverman@shepherdsofgoodhope.com.