the mission used to feed around 700 people a week at the food bank located at their yonge street location. after the pandemic hit, that number jumped to around 2,000, almost overnight. a return to pre-pandemic levels won’t be coming anytime soon. “we have this new all-time high of numbers that we’re serving that will continue for who knows how long. this is our new normal. it doesn’t feel normal.”
it’s hard to know how many of these people don’t have homes to call their own. “we guesstimate that on any single night there are 5,000 youths sleeping on the streets of toronto,” van nostrand says. “and we actually see, i think it’s 2,600 or so of those through our evergreen centre in a year. so almost half of the street-involved youth in toronto at some point walk through our doors.”
in an effort to raise awareness and recruit new volunteers and partners to their cause, the mission recently released a guide to help people learn how to better relate to the less fortunate living in their communities. in addition to providing invaluable advice to address a growing problem, the guide — and the mission itself — leaves the stigma associated with the word “homeless” in the past.
“there’s a lot of baggage that goes with that term, a lot of assumptions that are made with that term,” she says. “we prefer to say ‘street-involved’ and that sort of indicates the fluidity — you’re coming in and out of residences and there’s some movement there. we’re trying to unload the term and give them something that is reflective and respectful of their situation but also impart empathy because that’s a terrible thing, going from having a home and family to suddenly being cast out.”
the one-page guide,
which is available in pdf form on the mission’s website
, includes four straightforward steps to help facilitate conversation with street-involved neighbours and offer assistance in an empathetic way, something everyone deserves no matter their station in life.