Giving in all seasons

By Joel Wittnebel/The Oshawa Express

Relying on community support can be a fickle thing, especially when that support seems to come and go with the seasons.

At Oshawa’s Back Door Mission for the Relief of Poverty, a not-for-profit that provides food, meal-tickets, and support to those in need in the Oshawa area, when the hot weather comes, it tends to dry up more than just the ground outside.

“People kind of associate need with the winter,” says Don MacLeod, the president at the Back Door Mission for the past two years.

Located behind the Simcoe Street United Church, the mission serves around 100 people daily during its three days open during the week.

Now, MacLeod and the Back Door Mission are calling on the Oshawa community for a helping hand, hoping to catch many people before they jet off to the cottage or summer vacation, because right now, the pantry is starting to dwindle.

Specifically, the Mission is looking for non-perishables and packaged foods. Items that don’t need a can opener are always in high demand, MacLeod says.

Small amounts of clothing and other items are also available, and if residents have spare shoes kicking around, the Mission would gladly accept them.

“These folks live on their feet,” he says of their clientele. “They are walking everywhere because they can’t afford transit. So they go through footwear at a fair rate.”

Currently, the Back Door Mission is offering their help three days a week, open for two hour stints Wednesday to Friday. During those hours, the Mission offers food and coffee, and hands out meal tickets to St. Vincent’s Kitchen. The support also comes in other forms, both physical and mental.

“This is an important place for people to socialize, to kind of meet their friends, to get a sense of self-worth (and) being a community,” MacLeod says.

And the need for these services are more important now than ever before as the costs of living and renting in the Oshawa area continue to rise.

“It’s incredibly scary,” MacLeod says

For that reason, the Mission is looking to expand their services to five days a week.

“We’d really like to get to five days a week giving out meal tickets at the same time,” MacLeod says. “One of the reasons for that is it just reduces a terrible problem in the Oshawa are with the cost of living accommodation and the scarcity of living accommodation.”

Currently, the waiting list for rent geared to income (RGI) housing can have single individuals or couples waiting up to six years for a place to live. In such situations, MacLeod says that every little bit helps.

“If you at least reduce the need to pay for food by making a free meal available, you help out a little bit with the living accommodation,” he says.

For those looking to donate, items can be dropped off at the Back Door Mission, located at 66 Simcoe Street South. Donates can also be made online at www.backdoormission.ca.