Sally Ann aids in co-ordinating homeless relief

One of the challenges in trying to help the homeless is figuring out who is doing what and when.

Community-minded individuals who want to help either by themselves or with a few friends get together, gather winter clothing, boots and blankets, prepare meals and deliver them without knowing whether others are doing the same.

Members of John’s Angels, for example, sometimes meet like-minded people who come once a week or even daily. It’s different for the social agencies in the city.

“We do have a Monday morning roundtable meeting, kind of an outreach circle, where all the agencies, managers, come together on that Zoom call from CMHA (Canadian Mental Health Association), Salvation Army, police, bylaw enforcement, Interior Health, overdose prevention workers, a couple of representatives from city hall, and people from West Kelowna,” said Darryn Titterington, community ministry co-ordinator for the Salvation Army in Kelowna.

“That’s where we try to collaborate and come up with ideas to better serve the population. That’s usually about 90 minutes from 10 to 11:30 a.m. on Mondays.”

He thinks things have come a long way from when he started working in outreach and security for the Kelowna Gospel Mission four-and-a-half years ago.

“There is still definitely some improvement that needs to happen,” he said.

“To be honest, one of the biggest things is staffing issues for these agencies. Of course, I can’t speak for some of the other agencies, but from what I’ve heard, there just isn’t enough staff. There are different frustrations but that is definitely a core problem I would say.”

For its part, the Salvation Army provides lunch through it’s Community Life Centre at 200 Rutland Rd.

“People can stop by basically anytime during the day and get soup or a sandwich, hot chocolate, something along those lines, Monday to Friday. We are closed on weekends,” said Titterington.

Homeless in the North End may be hesitant to leave what little they own to somehow get to Rutland, he admitted.

“Probably not. Most of the people (the SA serves) are just in Rutland, individuals living in the parks, either Ben Lee or Lions or whatever other locations there might be.”

Canadian Mental Health Association employees come up occasionally.

“I don’t know how regular they are in the area but they are around on weekends and in the evenings and try to provide different things.”

His organization also has mitts, toques, jackets and boots available at its thrift store in Rutland.

“For people needing it, we can register them in our system, give them a $25 voucher, and they can go to the thrift store and get emergency things. Normally, that would be for clothing and for boots only. We can adapt that accordingly to socks, underwear and a blanket if a person happens to need that.”