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May 9, 2020
Our good volunteers have been temporarily asked not to come per health directives to protect both the vulnerable among them and our vulnerable staff as well.
And now, instead of the hot noon meal we usually serve in our dining room, we are giving bag lunches to those who come to us out in the courtyard. A couple of tables between the server and person coming for the meal provide some of the recommended distancing.
We staff spend the morning making sandwiches and bagging lunches. We try to keep the bags full of good things—sandwiches with both meat and cheese, fruit, granola bars, yogurt cups, and some sort of packaged snack, together with water or some other drink. We also fill clothing requests as needed.
Since shelters for the homeless have had to reduce their intake to meet distancing requirements, other places have opened up. At Expo Centre a large all-day drop-in center has opened, with meals, laundry, and showers, and a separate area as an overnight option for those in need of isolation.
One shelter for the homeless is using a sport center to boost its overnight capacity. And one hotel is now leased as a temporary residence for the homeless who are awaiting permanent housing. So far, amazingly, there have not been any confirmed COVID cases among Edmonton’s homeless.
Now we are enjoying the beautiful warmer weather, the tulips are up, and many of us are taking the opportunity for long walks or bike rides, or simply sunning in the courtyard. A rabbit visits there regularly, nibbling on the tender greens and leaving behind the decapitated flower heads.
We spend a lot of time on the phone and computer keeping in touch with our friends and volunteers, and we have been amazed by the gifts they continue to send or bring to our doors, both for ourselves and our friends on the streets.
