'We're from Mission Services, and we're giving back to our community!'
Clients and staff from Mission Services’ Men’s Shelter and Willow’s Place Women’s Drop-In Centre came together for the first ever Joint Shelter Community Clean Up.
As a group, they walked the 1.4-kilometre route from the Men’s Shelter on King Street to Willow’s Place on Wentworth, collecting trash and litter along the way.
“The clients are always saying that they want to give back,” said Michelle, Harm Reduction Worker. “So, I thought, ‘What better way to give back than to bring the men and the women together and do a route from one shelter to the other, cleaning up along the way?’”
In total, they collected and disposed of 20 bags of garbage, ranging from Tim Horton’s cups to hubcaps. Tiffany, Director of Men’s Emergency Services, says they saw a fantastic response from the neighbours.
“In the small park on Wentworth Street (at Wilson), we had a neighbor come out and ask what we were doing. We said, ‘We’re from Mission Services, and we’re giving back to our community!”’
That interaction was a surprise to Michelle but warmed her heart as she saw the clients receiving encouragement and praise for their hard work.
“I didn’t expect that, but it made my heart warm, because it shows them that people are noticing in a positive way. Now we can change the way the community’s thinking because they’re seeing us give back and doing good,” she said.
Nick, a client at the Men’s Shelter who participated in the Clean Up, added that it was uplifting to the clients to be recognized for their efforts to keep the community beautiful.
“In the end, it reminds me that that there are people in the community that realize and understand, like, we’re all human,” Nick said.
“It doesn’t matter that the situations we’re going through are different, we’re all on this planet together. For there to be people out there in the community who can see people doing things like this, and stop and say, ‘Hey, thank you.’ It was nice.”
That sentiment has been shared amongst all the participants, with many asking immediately when they would have another opportunity.
“The clients are still talking about when can we do it again,” Michelle said. “If we could do this annually, I think would be a great idea. Today was a really good day.”
Tiffany echoed that, saying that she hopes to see it grow to be an annual event with even more participants.
“I think the more we do it, more staff, more clients, and more people want to be a part of it. Overall, it was a great initiative for us to be able to take part in together.”
