THUNDER BAY — It is a busy time of year for Elevate NWO.
Over the past five years, Elevate NWO has developed a drop-in centre that is status neutral, where warmth, food, resources and even winter gear is available.
“Our staff help with social navigation, everything from getting through addiction, mental health or housing, and just help support people who might be struggling in the community,” said Holly Gauvin, executive director of Elevate NWO.
Gauvin said the drop-in centre has seen over 6,000 people visit in the past three months.
“We host varying numbers. During the pandemic, our numbers were a lot lower because they needed to be. In cold and flu season, we still try to pay attention to that because some of our people have very vulnerable or precarious health issues. Typically, you're going to see up to about 20 people in here.
“We also have a landing pad up in the reception area, where people can at least get out of the cold while they're waiting to come down here and have a bite to eat or get a cup of coffee. We try to find other spaces for people to be when it's really bad out,” she said.
Gauvin said visitors are only counted once per day.
“Sometimes we have people coming in multiple times a day, coming in at different times for different needs or different appointments. I would probably speculate closer to about 100 people a day are coming in here for one support or another.”
The Elevate NWO drop-in centre is a critical lifeline for a lot of people, Gauvin said.
“It's a place where people can come and know that there are people here who know them, who care about them, and who are going to support them.
“We actually prevent a lot of homelessness because people are able to access other things, like food, a winter jacket. They're able to apply the meager funds that they have to those things like rent and utilities."
Gauvin said there is a lot of prevention work done at Elevate NWO.
“My goal is to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, but that's not necessarily our member's goal. Our member's goal might be, I need a place to live. I need food to eat. By meeting their needs, then they're willing to sit down and have a conversation with me about the things that are goals I have.
“I feel like those things are really important to our community. All of our centres work just a little bit differently, but all of them have incredibly valuable resources for the community,” she said.
Gauvin said sometimes it’s hard to see the impact, but in the absence of places like Elevate, it makes the impact quite evident.
“We were closed down, I think it was two summers ago for staff training, and businesses were calling us saying, why are you closed? They noticed an influx of people who had nowhere else to go. While you may not always see the fruits of our labours, in the absence of organizations like ours and like PACE's, you would certainly notice it.”
With people in transition, Gauvin said Elevate NWO always accepts gently used clothing or small household items. She says right now winter gear is needed the most.
“We provide what resources we're able to, and we always give what we get free of charge,” she said.
Gauvin said funding is limited, so Elevate NWO operates Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“It's just unfortunately business hours, but our board is actively working on pursuing other resources in order to open those doors for longer hours, to be opening evenings, to be able to open weekends and holidays, because that's what our community says that they need and so that's what we need to respond to,” Gauvin said.
