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home / 世界杯决赛2022

downtown mission increases number of overnight beds

the downtown mission of windsor is adding 12 more overnight beds and expanding its dining and warming centre capacity to meet the demand.

by dave waddell

dec 12 2022
read time 2 minute read
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rukshini ponniah-goulin, executive director of the downtown mission speaks to a couple guests at the ouellette avenue location on wednesday, july 28, 2022. dan janisse / windsor star
with homelessness and the number of people using food banks increasing, the downtown mission of windsor is adding 12 more overnight beds and expanding its dining and warming centre capacity to meet the demand.
the new beds will bring the total available to 96 at the mission, which remains seven below the pre-covid total.
social distancing and other health regulations put in place during the pandemic forced the mission to reduce the number of beds at its 875 ouellette ave. shelter.
“we’ll begin adding those beds this week,” said downtown mission ceo rukshini ponniah-goulin.
“with using the dining hall for the warming centre and adding the beds, we feel we should be able to meet the needs of the community.”
the mission worked with the windsor-essex county health unit to reconfigure its facility to allow for the increased number of beds. the distance between beds has been slightly reduced to 4.5 to 5 feet from the previous six feet.
the demand for services is only building as the weather cools. the mission has been at capacity virtually every night since the beginning of november.
“we’re trying to do the best we can with the space we have,” ponniah-goulin said. “we’re trying to this safely.”
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in addition to the bed increase, the mission will add eight more dining tables and will have space for up to 30 people in its warming centre. those expansions are being done in partnership with the city of windsor.
the warming centre is expected to launch next week.
“we used the hallway at the mission as the warming centre when we opened it in february,” ponniah-goulin said. “we can accommodate many more people by using the dining hall. the goal is to get people in out of the cold.”
the expanded dining capacity is also timely as food insecurity is growing at an alarming rate.
ponniah-goulin said demand at the mission’s food bank and others operating in the community is at record levels.
“our service with the greatest demand is food services,” ponniah-goulin said. “demand at our food bank is unreal.
“we’re seeing 2,000 (people) per month. at the beginning of the year, it was 1,000 per month.”
ponniah-goulin added the number of new faces using the food bank at ouellette and at the windsor youth centre is ‘insane.’
according to a national survey released monday by the salvation army, windsor is reflective of a national trend.
the survey found 52 per cent of people said they’d experienced food insecurity in the past year. of that number, 59 per cent of people were using a food bank for the first time.
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“we’re seeing people who have never used the food bank or any of our services before,” ponniah-goulin said.
“there’s a lot of young people, the elderly, families … it’s a real cross-section (of the community).”
ponniah-goulin added the mission and other food banks are facing the double whammy of increasing demand and decreasing donations due to escalating food and housing costs.
“people are struggling, but our donors are also struggling to donate because of inflation,” ponniah-goulin said. “food donations are less.”

dwaddell@postmedia.com
twitter.com/winstarwaddell

dave waddell
dave waddell
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