Community Event: Garage Sale and Free Clothing at St. Vincent of Lerins Orthodox Church

Saturday May 30th
8:00 a.m. to 2 p.m.

St. Vincent of Lerins Orthodox Church
Corner of Avenue E and 30th Street

Garage Sale and Free Clothing!

Restaurant Inspections

With a fair amount of fanfare, the Government of Saskatchewan has released their Saskatchewan Restaurant Inspection Reports.  Like all places that serve food in Saskatoon and area, the Salvation Army’s kitchen and dining room is regularly inspected as is our Emergency Response Vehicle. 

You can go online and check out what the reports say or you can take our word for it.  We are quite proud at how clean our kitchen at the Centre is kept and the report specifies that there are no issues with either one of our food service areas.

Poverty Linked to Higher Health Care Costs

The Star Phoenix has a quick story on how a new study links poverty to higher health care costs.  I was asked to comment and you can read the entire article here.

Low-income Saskatoon residents are disproportionately more likely to visit a hospital, make use of expensive health services and take medication, says a study to be published Wednesday.

The paper, to be published in the Canadian Journal of Public Health, is the first of its kind in Canada to link individual income levels to health survey information from Statistics Canada on a regional level, co-author Mark Lemstra says.

The study uses health and income data collected from 3,433 Saskatoon residents between 2000 and 2005. It confirms previous findings that low-income residents are more likely to use expensive health services, such as emergency rooms, and have poorer health overall.

Lemstra says more must be done to elevate low-income people to a middle-income range, which he says could save the province $179 million per year in health-care expenditures.

"You can't have a medical solution to non-medical problems," Lemstra said. "It costs an extra $179 million to ignore poverty."

The Salvation Army Community Centre and “wet shelters”

Earlier this week a story was published on CBC Saskatchewan that addressed a recent report (PDF) published by the Saskatoon Indian and Metis Friendship Centre, interviewed 44 people who were having trouble finding housing..  Captain Rhonda Smith and I sat down with a reporter from CBC Radio and we addressed several of the issues that came up in the report that were relevant to our role as a shelter for men in Saskatoon.

When the story did come out, it focused on some comments I made about wet shelters.  The quotes made it look like we as a Centre were engaged in discussions about a wet shelter which is not accurate and was never the intent of my answer.  The greater context of the answer made it clear that the Salvation Army Community Centre is a drug and alcohol free shelter and as a “dry shelter”, we were the wrong people to ask about the effectiveness of wet shelters.  I suggested that the people to talk to about wet shelters were the Saskatoon Health Region and more specifically Larson House.  When the story was published, I was disappointed that the article did not share the broader context of our conversation and it gave the impression that we were actively engaged in discussions about a wet shelter in Saskatoon when we are not.

For over 100 years in Saskatoon, the Salvation Army has been providing assistance to people with a variety of social and spiritual needs.  The Salvation Army Community Centre in Saskatoon continues this practice by offering a alcohol and drug free environment for the community to take come to and receive food, shelter, emergency services, budget management, and spiritual care.

Clients who do choose to drink or consume drugs are referred to Larson House or in the case of extreme intoxication, are picked up by the Saskatoon City Police (or if it is in their best medical interests, we call an ambulance and they are given medical care). 

While the vast majority of the 18,000+ beds we served up in 2008 were used by men wanting a drug and alcohol free shelter, some of our clients are determined to continue to consume drugs and alcohol on a consistent basis.  For those clients we work with them in finding other places to reside and in extreme cases, we ask that they do find other places to reside other than our facility for the safety of our staff and other clients. 

If you have any questions about this or any other manner, don’t hesitate to call the Centre at 306.242.6833 or e-mail jordon.cooper@salvationarmysaskatoon.org or our Executive Director at rhonda_smith@can.salvationarmy.org.

One Day of Hope

The Salvation Army has released a debut documentary, “One Day of Hope,” on its Web site: www.SalvationArmy.ca. The film, which was directed by Hubert Davis from Untitled Films, gives a day-in-the-life look at the people and places that make up The Salvation Army’s shelter services.

Homelessness in Canada

The Salvation Army released their national study on homelessness today.  According to Canwest News Service

According to the survey, almost all shelter users said they want to move into permanent housing, while nearly half reported mental health problems or alcohol or drug addictions.

On average, shelter users have been homeless for three years and the lack of affordable low-income housing has resulted in emergency shelters becoming long-term housing replacements, Harris said.

"It becomes more of a longer term response than it should be," Harris said. "Instead of people being there for a couple of weeks to get back on their feet, they end up being there for a longer period of time because there aren't employment supports or housing supports — things they need to move and transition back from the shelters into the communities."

The Salvation Army provides nearly 6,400 emergency and short-term housing beds for men, women and families each night, accounting for one-quarter of all shelter beds in Canada.

The full survey can be found online here (PDF)

Montreal woman lends a hand as she travels across Canada

An article in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix about Deborah Hayek who joined us at the Centre last week.

A few weeks ago, Deborah Hayek was eating Easter supper with her family in Montreal when she got her big idea.

She decided to take a train across Canada, stopping in several cities to volunteer, before arriving at her grandmother's home in Vancouver.

"When you go to a city for two or three days, it's hard to get out of the tourist mode," she said. "I was trying to think of ways so that I could meet people and actually understand the country better."

She began calling people in different cities to make connections. Less than a week after she began, she got on the train. "I tend to do things kind of spontaneously," she said.

The spur-of-the moment project took the 23-year-old from Quebec to Saskatoon. She spent Earth Day collecting garbage and planting trees in Toronto and volunteered at the MS Walk in Winnipeg.

On Tuesday, she was seated in front of a group of 10- and 11-year-old students as a volunteer for the Junior Achievement program.

Her mock job interview for a class of Grade 5 students at Brunskill School sent giggles throughout the room as the students prepared to critique her skills.

The students are part of a business basics program delivered by Junior Achievement volunteer Lisa Strozen.

As a teacher and business owner, Strozen goes into classrooms to teach students about businesses, with the hope of encouraging them to create their own ventures. On Tuesday, she trained Hayek to deliver the program to students.

She also plans to volunteer at the Salvation Army in Saskatoon and the rehabilitation centre for adults with brain injuries and take part in a conversational circle with new immigrants.

If you want to join the many people across Saskatoon (and now from across Canada) who volunteer at the Centre, feel free to give us a call at 306.242.6833.  We have a wide range of places and opportunities for those who want to make a difference in Saskatoon!