ATHABASCA – The Athabasca Native Friendship Centre (ANFC) has a grant in place to operate a small homeless shelter this winter, but needs somewhere to put it.
ANFC executive director Laureen Houle met with Athabasca town council Oct. 8 seeking space to provide a mat program for at least 10 people. Houle explained the centre has a grant that can be used to provide the blankets needed, as well as security, but they do not have enough space in their facility to house the program.
"We've seen the increased need – especially in the cold months – for somewhere for our less fortunate to sleep at night, to be out of the elements, instead of in the banks' lobbies,” she said. “Sadly, due to various circumstances, many people have nowhere to go at night and I hope we can agree that a temporary mat-type program or warming centre is in need in our community.”
A mat program provides for very basic lodging — a blanket to lay on, one or two blankets to cover up with and a blanket to roll up as a pillow. Blankets are easy to fold up and wash so require less space than pillows and mattresses to store.
"There have been many conversations regarding this issue in the past, some of which I've been involved In, but we haven't really been in a position to offer any kind of assistance,” said Houle. “We have some funds that could go towards a program like this just for the winter months – we have to actually use money by February, but we could make it stretch out until March if we have to.”
Houle hopes any place provided will be near downtown and plans to run the program at night.
“Ideally, the space will be close to downtown as most services patrons utilize are in the core area. We would look at running it for about a 12-hour period – nine at night to nine in the morning – and then clean the building during the day,” she said. “I put the word out there that we're looking, but haven't had any offers other than Camp Wright (37 km southwest of Athabasca), which is a little far (but) a beautiful space, it'd be the nicest homeless shelter ever. So, we're not asking anything other than your support and ideas, possible locations, if you know of any.”
The lack of a location is something the town is acutely aware of as finding shelter for the homeless has been a top priority for a long time and most recently they had a similar request for space from the Anglican Church.
"I'll tell you right now, all the buildings we own are full of people. We don't have anything else, but councillor (Rob) Balay has been thinking thoughts,” said mayor Colleen Powell.
Balay has made contacts with companies who may be able to provide ATCO trailers to a non-profit, but there is no vacant public land so it would require a negotiation with private individuals in order to place them in a convenient location.
"It would be in the downtown core; there are a couple of locations that we have in mind. But I think it's probably better for a community group to approach these couple of contacts ... versus if it's the municipality that asks, I think they'd be maybe more receptive (but) we could work together on it,” Balay said.
The trailers house eight to 12 people but the negotiations would have to start as soon as possible, Balay added.
The next day during ‘Town Talk,’ a live Facebook event, Powell encouraged anyone in the Athabasca region with the means to house the mat project to get in touch with Houle.
Athabasca Cares: The Shelter Project is also keeping an eye on if the ANFC will be able to use the old building or get some trailers. Founded by Paul Drake in response to a recent death of a homeless man, the fledgling group is hoping to bring all stakeholders together instead of having numerous different groups each trying to come up with a plan. If the mat program is a go, The Shelter Project will focus on next winter, but if not, they want to work with the ANFC to find an alternative location.
Heather Stocking, TownandCountryToday.com
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