ATHABASCA – Anyone who’s had to go outside in Athabasca these last few days would be forgiven for mistaking the town for a research base in the Arctic. As easy as it can be to bemoan the frigid conditions from inside a house or a car on the way to work, sub-zero temperatures hit the most vulnerable populations the hardest.
Athabasca Cares’ overnight shelter has had a busy first two months of operation — since opening in November, co-founder and board chair Krystal Zahara said the shelter has seen its daily use increase by almost 50 per cent from last winter.
“Being open earlier has helped us prepare and (we) anticipate having more clients as it gets colder. People are already aware of us and the services we offer because we were open when it was warmer,” said Zahara. “We have about 20 people who use our shelter quite regularly — on any given night we’re seeing between eight and ten folks.”
Despite the cold snap, Zahara said the shelter hasn’t seen a sudden surge in usage — as she said, whether it’s -10 C or -40 C, it’s still too cold to sleep outside safely.
“We’ve already had nights that weren’t as cold where we were seeing upwards of 15 people use the program. It’s dangerous to sleep outside in the winter, so to be quite honest I’m not anticipating a ton more people coming in,” said Zahara. “There’s a couple of people who come to the shelter to eat or talk with our staff and have some relationship building. Those people aren’t leaving in the night anymore because it is too cold to leave.”
The shelter is only open at night, so once the sun comes up it’s back out into the cold weather — unlike larger centres, Athabasca lacks a dedicated space for anyone to go to warm up. The Alice B. Donahue Library is always open to the public, as is the Athabasca Regional Multiplex, but neither institution has dedicated programming for anyone lacking housing.
“Nothing wrenches your heart more than having to tell a client that they need to leave at eight o’clock in the morning when it's -34 C outside,” said Zahara. “There’s nothing that feels worse than driving by in your warm vehicle. We’re having to make those decisions to close in the day because we don’t have those operational funds, and there’s more risk when people are sleeping than during the day.”
More funding on the horizon
Athabasca Cares gets much of its funding from the Rural Development Network (RDN) — Zahara said the shelter wouldn’t exist without the almost $100,000 RDN gave them for the last two years, but it isn’t enough to fully cover operational costs. Instead, the shelter relies on local businesses and the community for support, which includes the building they operate out of. Zahara said it’s provided free of charge by Mark Neaves, allowing them to open the shelter every night.
A Jan. 10 announcement from RDN could see their funding increase, however. The federal government announced additional funding that will see approximately $4 million get distributed over the next two years. While the exact amount each organization will receive hasn’t been announced yet, Zahara said she’s confident Athabasca Cares will be on the list.
“Our ask is going to be a lot bigger, because our goal is to have a 24/7 shelter by next year. We’re hoping that we’ll be able to, but it will depend on funds,” said Zahara.
“Because we already are a fund receiver, we have an increased likelihood of receiving funds, and we’ve run a successful program. We have those success measures that we’ve been reporting to RDN, so I’m fairly confident we’ll receive funding for next year, which is great.”
If you or anyone you know is in need of temporary shelter, Athabasca Cares is open every night from 9 p.m. to 8 a.m. If you’re wondering how you can help, the Athabasca Cares Facebook page has a list of needed donations. Due to limited storage space, they ask that only needed items be donated. As of Jan. 6, the shelter is looking for women’s winter boots, men’s and women’s long underwear, fingered gloves, hand warmers, clothing hangers, razors and shaving cream, and lip balm.
