by Marie-Christine Gauthier
Let me give you something to think about. Imagine having to flee your country because of political strife. Imagine having to leave behind everything and everyone you know and having to start your life over again from zero as a widowed father with four children under the age of 9 after the loss of your spouse in tragic circumstances.
Imagine arriving in Ottawa, in the dead of February, with no warm clothing, no housing, and no support network of friends and family. Imagine staying for months in a small motel room as a family of five, with no access to cooking or laundry facilities. Now, imagine those things with the added stress of COVID-19 regulations. This is not a fictional scenario, but one experienced by Benjamin (pseudonym) and his children who were helped by the social support workers and others from the Lowertown Community Resource Centre.
The social support workers (previously known by the unwieldy name “intake” workers) help Lowertown residents, from a wide variety of ages and backgrounds and eliminate obstacles when they are in a tough spot. When the workers first meet with clients (usually done in person, but on the phone in these times of pandemic), they assess their needs and provide them with information about which services and supports would best fit.
The workers lend a friendly ear, provide crisis management and short-term counseling, serve as advocates to defend residents’ rights, help access basics such as food or transportation to appointments. They serve as a liaison with municipal, provincial, and federal authorities, assist residents in completing official paperwork and registering for government programs and non-profit supports. If the workers cannot offer the service a client needs, they will connect them with the people and organizations that can.
coordinator the Centre’s holiday programs
The Social Support Workers helped Benjamin and his children by providing them with gift cards to buy much needed winter clothing. They also registered the family for the Centre’s COVID-period program which provided them with healthy snacks and activity booklets to help alleviate the boredom of children cooped up in a one room living space during the lockdown. They helped Benjamin complete paperwork for financial assistance, for immigration matters, for registering some of the children for school, and for our Back to School program which provides children with backpacks and school supplies.
The workers also successfully advocated for the family to be moved to interim housing more suitable than the motel.COVID-19 has forced the social support workers and the rest of the Lowertown Community Resource Centre team to come up with creative and innovative ways to continue to serve the community while keeping everyone safe. Throughout the pandemic, they have been doing wellness check phone calls with some of their more vulnerable and isolated clients.
“I would like to express my gratitude for your generosity, especially in this difficult time that the world is going through. My humble family arrived in Canada a few days before the start of lockdown. The community welcomed me with great love of their fellow man and your support gradually gave us the strength to live because we were really at the end of our rope.”
-Benjamin, father of four and LCRC client
During the fall, the workers register residents for holiday assistance programs such as Caring & Sharing (which provides individuals families with either a food hamper or gift cards) and Toy Mountain (which provides toys for children 0 to 12). Because of the pandemic and the financial insecurity experienced by so many people right now, numbers have been significantly higher than previous years. At the date of publishing this article, the workers have registered over 300 people, among them 125 families. Over 230 children have been registered for Toy Mountain and 70 youth between 13 and 18 for another program. As demand for these programs well exceeds capacity, the Centre, through contributions from generous donors, will endeavour to cover the shortfall.
It is said that it takes a village to raise a child; the same can be said of a community looking out for its most vulnerable members. The Centre will continue to do its best to support the residents who need it, but we could use some help. If you are interested in the work that we do, you can find out more on our website at https://crcbv.ca/. Should you wish to support our work, donations can be made by mail (Lowertown Community Resource Centre, 40 Cobourg Street, Ottawa, ON K1N 8Z6) or through the Canada Helps website at canadahelps.org.
I am pleased to report that we heard from Benjamin last week. While he and his four energetic sons are still in temporary housing, their new accommodations are roomier, so the children have more space to play. The family is much happier and doing well. They still have a long way to go, but their situation has improved significantly since their arrival last February.
Families in need that wish to register for the holiday assistance programs can connect with our social support workers at 613-789-3930.