LIFE group settles into new home
After providing lunch to the homeless from Memorial Park since the beginning of the pandemic, LIFE Community Project has moved to their new home and will continue serving the homeless at Midtown Mall. (Photo by Chris Jones)
By Chris Jones/The Oshawa Express
LIFE Community Project has begun settling into their new home near Midtown Mall.
After city council voted in favour of allowing John E. Walker and his team to set up at the Midtown Mall hammerhead site, the group began once again handing out food to those in need from the new spot this past weekend.
“There’s been a lot of positive responses,” says Walker. “As long as the city follows through on their commitments, we are doing phenomenally well.”
According to Ray Bond, the founder of Durham Dignity for the Homeless, the group is waiting for a trailer which he says will block some of the wind currently making the new location a bit chilly. It will also serve as a place for residents using the services to warm.
“We’ll have a place to get them warm and keep clothes warm as well,” says Bond.
Walker says with the success of LIFE Community Project, formerly LIFE Rally Oshawa, they are looking to expand.
“Once this move’s finished, and everything’s set up and running, we’re already in talks with a location in south Oshawa,” he says. “The needs are great across the region.”
He says there are plans to go right across Durham Region, but they aren’t talking too much about it because they aren’t ready yet.
On the possibility of expanding, Bond says he feels good, but they should nail down their first location before setting up elsewhere.
“That’s what we’re doing right now – just trying to figure out all the wrinkles, get the volunteers,” he says. “But it looks like we’re going to get a lot of support, and if we get too much support we can start looking at alternate locations.”