Outreach team seeing increase of need for homeless

Winter conditions, a lack of shelter space, and the threat of COVID create unimaginable conditions for our homeless population. Tara Overholt heads out with Be the change YYC as they ad another night of outreach services.

CALGARY (CityNews) – Wagons are stocked full of food, warm socks, sleeping bags and other essentials as volunteers with a local outreach head out to help the city’s homeless, a population, they say, is growing during the pandemic.

“This is our fourth night,” said Kevin Carr with BeTheChangeYYC. “With the increase in homelessness, rough sleepers, – we have enough donations to make the fourth night work.”

In the month of December, the outreach service helped over 830 people, an increase of 25 per cent from the month before.

Just feet outside the door of BeTheChangeYYC, people are asking for supplies. Volunteer staff are asking people whether they have a safe and dry place to stay for the night.

RELATED: ‘No one deserves to freeze to death’: Calgary’s homeless brace for winter during pandemic

“It’s not safe to stay outside all night,” said founder Chaz Smith. “When people are saying )they’re) afraid of catching COVID, it’s sort of the conversation of what’s worse? Freezing outside to death tonight or potentially catching COVID. So it’s about triaging those risks and we don’t want people to freeze outside, we don’t want people to sleep out so we’ll try to convince them to go to a shelter just to save their life right now.”

The volunteers find one man sleeping outside, with just a few blankets. They’re able to equip him and others who are living in a tent… with more supplies, none want to head to the shelters.

It doesn’t’ take long for those big items to be handed out… as they make their rounds through downtown, and while back at headquarter they may look like their shelves are stocked, they say supplies go fast.

“We’re always accepting donations of sleeping bags, tents, food, water, socks, mitts, gloves, jackets,” said volunteer Hanna Woodward.

To find out how you can donate to BeTheChangeYYC, you can visit their website.

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