MONTREAL – An estimated 30,000 Canadians sleep on the streets every night.
With winter just around the corner, homeless shelters across the country are anticipating another busy season.
But Montreal’s largest shelter is hoping its massive fundraising campaign will help curb homelessness and offer new, longterm solutions.
“Homelessness should not be a lifestyle. It should be an episode in somebody’s life that is over as quickly as possible,” said Matthew Pearce, President and CEO of the Old Brewery Mission.
Local business leaders are spearheading the latest campaign that aims to collect $55 million in donations.
So far their efforts have paid off, with close to $14 million in private donations collected in the last two years alone.
READ MORE: Are temporary warming stations a new option for Montreal homeless?
But they still need another $40 million in private and public donations to meet their goal.
Organisers expect the newly elected government in Ottawa will be more open to funding such initiatives.
“Everybody has a job to do in resolving these issues and we can only do that if we all work together,” said Rick Leckner, Chair of the Board of the Old Brewery Mission Foundation.
The Old Brewery Mission said it prides itself on serving every single person who walks through the door, which amounts to about 4,000 Montrealers a year.
Nevertheless, without a massive investment, the organisation worries more people will fall through the cracks and stay on the streets.
“We do not think that in a city like Montreal there should be people who spend months and years in homelessness inside our shelters or outside,” said Pearce.
“I think we can change that, we’re on the road to changing that.”
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