DUNN ON A MISSION
Shelter head talks homelessness
When it comes to homelessness, Ron Dunn wanted to walk the walk and talk the talk.
As executive director of the Downtown Mission of Windsor, Dunn works with and for the community’s homeless every day. Thursday, he spent his entire day — all 24 hours — outdoors to get a better feel for what it’s like to live on the street.
“I think it’s important for me as the executive director to have a better understanding of some of those we serve, what they’re going through,” Dunn said from his 24hour encampment on an Ouellette Avenue bench.
This is the second year for Dunn’s Bench Talk to raise awareness about hunger, addiction, poverty and homelessness.
He took a seat outside the mission’s Wellness Centre at 11 a.m. Thursday and planned to stay there until 11 a.m. Friday.
A year ago, he took shelter in a tent overnight but he eschewed that comfort this time around as a nod to his opposition to an election-time suggestion that a tent city be created for the homeless. “It was floated as a solution to homelessness which is incorrect and I spoke out against it,” Dunn said. “If the best we can do is give somebody a tent, then we have failed.”
Dunn moved up his outdoor experience (last year he did it near the end of October) to leverage increased election interest in the plight of the homeless. Many candidates are calling for solutions to the rising numbers of homeless people in the downtown.
“It has become an election issue and I want it to remain an issue,” he said. “This isn’t a one and done. I’ve been calling it an epidemic for two or three years now. “
As with last year’s Bench Talk, Dunn expected visits from various community and civic leaders over the course of the day.
Adam Castle, a candidate running for council in Ward 5 for the Oct. 22 election, was one of the first to stop by.
“I worked in mental health so I know the impact he has in our community every single day,” Castle said of Dunn. “Most importantly, homelessness isn’t an issue, it’s people and we need this to go from an election issue to a Windsor-made solution. It has to become a platform for whoever are our councillors on Oct. 23 to continue to talk about.” Next to Dunn’s bench, a large storyboard was on display for passersby. It outlined the mission’s 2017 impact report, including the fact that the mission rescued 2.4 million pounds of viable food valued at $5.5 million and reallocated it to food banks and schools. It showed the mission served 346,357 meals last year. Dunn encouraged folks to consider donating what they spend on coffee, because just $3.11 would provide one meal for someone in need.
He said one former client dropped by with a donation Thursday morning.
Dunn said the man knew homelessness and hunger due to a number of setbacks that weren’t caused by addiction or mental-health issues.
“He worked in tool and die, went through a messy divorce and had some health issues,” Dunn said. “A lot of people are just a couple of paycheques away from that.” Last year’s camp-out raised $50,000 thanks to several large donations. Dunn wasn’t aiming to match or exceed that total. He was more concerned with raising awareness.