Community support pours in for summer poverty campaign
Bedding, sunscreen, toothpaste, clean socks.
These are things most people take for granted on a daily basis, but for a segment of the population — those living in poverty or on the street — these items can seem like a luxury instead of a necessity.
Earlier this month, Thorold resident James Symons launched a two-week campaign called Poverty Doesn’t Take a Vacation, with a goal of collecting needed items for Niagara’s vulnerable residents.
It all started when he was approached by Donna Paterson from Start Me Up Niagara, at one of the agency’s monthly spaghetti dinners.
“If she hadn’t told me about the need, I wouldn’t have started this,” recalled Symons.
Sometimes, all it takes it someone shining a light on a need in the community. Once Symons knew about the dwindling summer donations for Start Me Up Niagara, he set about correcting it.
He took to social media and shared what he learned, asking for the community to step up again — much like they did last Christmas when he launched his Tool Box Project, collecting donations for men in need. And once again, the community met his challenge.
“The response has been absolutely amazing,” said Symons. “It just goes to show, ‘ask and ye shall receive.’ The community has really stepped up.”
Symons collected sleeping bags, socks, denture adhesive and cleaning products, toiletries, sunscreen and more. On Wednesday morning, he delivered the haul to Start Me Up Niagara’s Gale Crescent facility.
The executive director of Start Me Up Niagara, Susan Venditti, said it couldn’t have come at a better time.
“The need is tremendous,” she said. “More and more people are displaced in St. Catharines, and we have a big problem with hunger and homelessness in our community right now.”
Symons was happy to make some new partnerships in the community. He met members of New Apostolic Church Niagara and learned how to make sleeping mats out of plastic milk bags. In total, 12 sleeping mats meant that 1,620 milk bags were diverted from going to a landfill and can provide people with a versatile mat to sleep on.
An employee at the Niagara Health System organized a donation drive within her department, Brian Toye from Re/Max Garden City Realty reached out to help, and Symons said Chris Green assisted him in spreading the word on social media.
“It’s great to see the community get behind something like this,” said Symons.
He’ll be launching the second instalment of the Tool Box Project later this summer.