Winter unofficially arrived in Greater Napanee this week in the form of sub zero temperatures and a dusting of snow.
Sure it may help set the mood ahead of Saturday’s Parade of Lights, but for those without a warm place to sleep at night it was a harsh reminder of winter’s coming wrath.
Fortunately shelter will be available starting Sunday when Morningstar Mission’s warming centre officially opens its doors for the season. Available to anyone in need of a place to spend the night, the centre will run seven nights a week through March 31, 2022.
Far from a permanent solution, the warming centre is still a huge boon to some of this community’s most vulnerable citizens. That it has been able to come together is nothing short of a miracle made possible by countless volunteers at the Mission. As neighbouring cities such as Kingston and Belleville struggle to come up with their own solutions to homelessness, Napanee’s Mission has stepped up to the plate to provide an essential service. Their work is made possible thanks to a $104,166 grant from Prince Edward Lennox and Addington Social Services.
The shelter provides individuals with a warm, safe and regulated place to sleep with trained staff on hand to oversee the nightly operation.
Funding is undeniably an essential ingredient to the warming centre, but it’s far from the only thing that makes it possible. The hard work by Mission director Kevin Alkenbrack and his team of volunteers are the X factor that turn it into a reality. A perfect example of what can happen when no politics are involved. Instead it’s simply caring individuals getting together to do the right thing to help those in need with nothing expected in return.
As vital as the warming centre is to the community, it’s largely viewed as a temporary fix to a much larger solution. Finding a place to get out of the cold on a chilly winter’s night is an immediate solution to a major problem, but it does little to address the long-term issue. After all, that same person will most likely be facing that exact same dilemma 24 hours later.
It’s not a select few people facing that issue either. Raising The Roof, a Canadian based charity aimed at finding long term solutions for Canada’s homeless, estimates 235,000 Canadians experience homelessness each year. That number, as well as the length of time they spend homeless, continues to rise.
They list poverty, physical or mental health, violence at home and affordable housing among the main causes of homeless.
None of those are particularly easy problems to solve and none come with a ‘silver bullet’ that can do away with them in one or two steps. They do however need to addressed-not just by one level of government and not by one particularly political party.
In the meantime there’s at least some comfort in knowing organizations such as Morningstar Mission is in our community doing their part. Their service is something we can all be grateful for this winter.
-Adam Prudhomme