Today we split up into two groups to do slightly different activities. The purpose of dividing up was to visit more agencies and to see the ways homelessness and poverty are addressed in Calgary. My group, which included Lisa, Thomas, Jaiden, Ivan and myself, went to the Alex Youth Health Centre (AYHC), the Salvation Army and the Inn from the Cold. The other group, made up of David, Allison, Claire, Dante and Christie, went to the Mustard Seed and did a learning activity downtown. We ended our day by meeting up together at a different Mustard Seed location.
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| Claire, Christie and Dante at the Mustard Seed shelter.They prepared and served food for the entire morning. They finished almost 500 lunches for today and tomorrow! |
My group AYHC first. It was not open yet and we did not meet any clients for privacy reasons, but we got a wonderful tour by one of the counsellors, Kate. They have full-time counsellors, doctors, nurses, a psychiatrist, a teacher/tutor, and many others. They provide most health services except surgery through their health professionals, and provide a safe space and someone to talk to for youth aged 12-24 who are struggling in any area of their life. There are also groups focused on Aboriginal individuals, working to alleviate the effects of generational trauma in their lives and families. The Alex provides healthy outlets for youth such as intentional graffiti on sheet canvases that are sold at fundraisers, support groups for individuals with addictions and mental health issues, pre/post natal courses and support for young mothers, and fun activities and events for every occasion! It was pretty amazing to see the kinds of things the staff do to help and connect with the youth, breaking down barriers between everyone.
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| Dante and Allison making sandwiches. |
We took a pit stop in the Bow Tower, which was an interesting experience. We felt very out of place in our street clothes and backpacks, and imagined how people living on the streets and in poverty might feel in the midst of a wealthier society. On that note, we made our next stop at the Salvation Army Men's Shelter. The very cheerful and welcoming head custodian put us right to work. We cleaned and sanitized every surface there was to clean, and we made quick work of it! We visited a bit with some pretty awesome guys playing volleyball, and made smaller interactions with some other really great people while we worked. We had a little piano concert in the chapel after we cleaned, and they served us an excellent lunch in the cafeteria.
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| Claire and Christie packing bag lunches. These lunches are taken by clients who sleep at the shelter but have full or part time jobs during the day. |
We walked over to the 'Inn From the Cold,' a family shelter that provides many services for families with children who struggle to make ends meet. Between their main building and their overflow shelter, the Inn provides housing and meals for about 175 people at a time, half of which are children. The Inn works very intentionally with the children to break the cycle of any kind of family dysfunction or imbalance to better prepare them for adulthood. They also provide parenting support, and families are welcome as long as they need. It was a very modern and welcoming place, with friendly staff who were grateful for our help. We were once again reminded of how a gift or service shows the client how much we value them. The Inn was a very lovely place, and sent the message that all the families there are worthy of a nice place to stay, no less than any middle or upper-class family. We did a very thorough deep-clean of their dining room with some tunes pumping, especially wiping away all the small handprints on the cupboards! We learned that baby food is basically invincible, and we spent a fair amount of time scraping pureed squash off the counters.
(written by Ariane Wichert)
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| Claire, Dante and Christie debriefing from a CASA learning activity. They interviewed people downtown to learn their views of homelessness. |
The second group got the chance to take a lot of public transport, which was exciting after being in a small town for such a long time. Our first stop was at The Mustard Seed shelter, where we made over 300 sandwiches that were served both as hot meals with delicious mushroom soup, and as packed lunches for people who had to work during the day. It was a nice change to spend quite a long time at one place, and getting to know the volunteers. This shelter also provided many beds for the homeless during the night, along with a few beds during the day for those who work night shifts. After helping clean up the kitchen, we hopped back on the bus and made our way to downtown Calgary.
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| Ivan, Jaiden, Lisa and Ariane pretending to be the Calgary Tower. |
The activity we participated in was called the "CASA Challenge", which was a race against time to complete a series of activities that relate to homelessness and how society perceives these issues. Many of these challenges included walking up to strangers, introducing ourselves, and asking them what they thought about different aspects of homelessness. We were fortunate enough to meet very interesting people, who came from a wide range of backgrounds, but had similar views on homelessness. Many of their comments echoed some of the stereotypes we discussed on the first night: laziness, drugs, and abuse. However, some mentioned new ideas that we had never thought of, such as homeless people being con-artists. Some of the comments people had were shocking to us, and it challenged us to think deeply about what we've learned so far, and apply that when talking with others about those issues. It also put us out of our comfort zone as if forced us to talk to strangers, and broach topics that are generally not discussed in a public setting. After we had gathered all our answers, we met in the Olympic park to discuss these new viewpoints, and analyze how much of it lined up with the facts we had learned from the different organizations we have volunteered at. All in all, it was a refreshing way to discuss these issues, and it was a great opportunity that forced us to dig deeper and verbalize our personal views on the issue of homelessness.
(written by Claire Hanson)
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| Selfie time! Thomas, Lisa, Ariane, Jaiden and Ivan. For the record, Lisa is imitating the face behind her... |
After our group took a short break to grab some coffee, we met the other students at the Mustard Seed. Our guide, Brittany, introduced us to the history of the organization, and led us on a tour of their buildings in the area. We visited the resource center, which used to be the old shelter and kitchen, then went next door to their new transitional housing complex. It consisted of 2 floors of meeting space, offices, and additional resources, and 12 floors of apartments for low-income individuals. They also provided services such as yoga, knitting, games/movie nights, and the Community Kitchen, where residents could learn to cook with volunteers, make freezer meals, and share a 'family' meal around a table. This community-focused housing complex is substance-free, and provides one-on-one support and counselling for all their residents. The building had cost $65 million to build, and we were again struck by the amount of dedication people put forth to show these people how much they are appreciated and valued.
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Jaiden, Ariane, Ivan and Lisa hearing a
presentation on the work of the Alex Centre.
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Today was an awesome day of leftovers and new helpings. For supper we re-heated chili and other leftovers in order to leave more of our food with a local food bank. In the same way, we spent the day visiting new agencies and meeting new people while engaging with some of the same issues and concepts we have been talking about for our entire ALSO trip. It is kind of like eating dinner and taking another helping of something even though there is still food on the plate; what we have still tastes good, but we just want to go back for a little more.
Tomorrow we will keep the same two groups and do a bit of a switch. My group will go to the Mustard Seed shelter to serve and prepare food, while Claire's group will head to the Alex and an organization called CUPS. We will meet at the MCC Alberta centre for a final debrief of the ALSO experience. We are excited to have one more day of intense, meaningful learning in a Calgary classroom filled with colourful characters and incredible stories.
Written by Ariane and Claire
