An underutilized resource
Weekly Info Café sessions offer assessment, referrals, advice and friendship
A Sydney church is encouraging people in need to drop by and take advantage of the resources it provides at its weekly Info Cafe.
Pastor Rob Jones said he’s somewhat disappointed with the number of people who have visited the “cafe” since it opened five months ago in the Faith Baptist Church on Davenport Street in the Ashby area.
“It seems that people are a bit reticent to get the help they need — it seems that crossing the threshold of this building seems to be a bit of a difficulty, so our biggest challenge is really getting people to come in,” said Jones, who estimated that he and cafe co-host Wilma Blois usually see anywhere from two to seven people on any given Tuesday morning.
“The community has told us and we recognize there is a great need out there — we just want our resources to be used more.”
Open every Tuesday from 9 a.m. to noon, the cafe offers those who visit access to a wide variety of services including emergency assistance, housing, employment, life counselling, the Internet and finances.
“We are really like a triage centre where we assess what the need is, talk them through, and then refer them to different agencies — then they get the help that they need,” said Jones, adding
that the cafe has built solid relationships with local agencies that offer help and guidance on a wide variety of issues.
In addition to offering assessment and referral services, the cafe, as the name suggests, also has coffee, tea and snacks on
hand for those who venture into the church room that looks and feels more like a traditional coffee shop.
In trying to determine why more people aren’t finding their way to the cafe, Jones speculated that some might be intimidated
by the church setting. However, he’s quick to note that the services are open to all and that there is never judgment passed on those who come through the doors.
“When we see someone in need we want to help that person — we are not interested in judging them, but where there is legitimate need we want to help them and show the love of God in action,” said Jones.
“Our mindset is to help people put a plan together that is achievable and if you can help people take the first steps to find housing, to balance their budget, to find employment — all these things are all interconnected, so we’re not just looking to give aid, we want to help people have a plan to get their lives back together again.”
Blois added that privacy is guaranteed, as people are not required to give their full names if they do not wish to do so.
“One of the things that we don’t do is take people’s information — all we need is their first name, they don’t have to reveal anything to us that they don’t want to reveal,” said Blois.
When it was first launched in late October, the cafe had representatives from a number of local social agencies, such as Housing First, Legal Aid and the YMCA Nova Scotia Works and Employment Centre, attend the threehour session. However, Jones said that is no longer the case as the low numbers didn’t justify having the resource people onsite. However, he added that help is just a phone call away once the needs of those looking for help are identified.
But sometimes, he said, people just want to talk.
“One young guy comes in regularly and sometimes he just wants to talk, he’s trying to process stuff that is going on his life, so we just listen to him — then we gave him some stuff from our food bank and a gift card for Sobeys that should tide him over for a couple of days,” said Jones, noting that there are many vulnerable people in Cape Breton.
“A lot of people make assessments on why people are in these positions, but we’ve heard so many different stories of average people, normal people, who have everything going fine one minute and then something occurs, a crisis happens, and they are literally homeless or in poverty within a few months.”