A country-wide initiative is underway and is helping those who are homeless like Kirk Sabiston. The 50-year-old is currently sleeping at the In From The Cold shelter.
“Housing is a hard thing to find … I’m on disability and can’t work anymore so it’s hard,” Sabiston said.
And he’s not alone. Staff at In From the Cold say they have helped more than 400 homeless men and women this past year — which taxpayers help to subsidize.
“It’s roughly $60 a night per individual to stay in a shelter which does get quite costly if you think 29 individuals per night,” says Amanda Brierley, the street outreach co-ordinator.
The shelter also relies on donations of food and clothing, as well as fleece blankets from Urban Barn, located in the Rio-Can Centre in Kingston.
Six years ago, the company started an initiative called “Blanket the Country in Warmth” — to help those without a home. The initiative included 54 stores from British Columbia to Quebec City. According to Dawn Dalton, the store manager, shoppers have until Nov. 1 to buy one of these blankets for $5.
“Our goal this year is is to do 15,000. So if we complete that, that’s 73,000 over the course of six years,” said Dalton.
Here in Kingston, the blankets are used at In From The Cold and handed out to those sleeping on the streets.
“These are individuals who struggle financially, mentally, [and with] addictions, and so they just need some encouragement and positives,” says Brierley.
For Kirk Sabiston, it means a lot.
“Without people donating things, I’d be in rough shape, so to all those people, thank you,” says Sabiston.