Social support worker hired by Martha’s Table having positive effect at charity

Martha’s Table is probably best known for providing meals to the homeless and those on fixed or low incomes.

Thanks to a grant from the United Way and the City of Kingston, the charitable organization has been able to hire a social support worker.

In just nine days, Sherri McKane has already met many of Martha’s Table’s clients at the drop-in centre.

Martha’s Table’s executive director, Ronda Candy, says McKane has already had a huge impact.

“Two very important engagements with guests that I have witnessed myself, so this is a much-needed service and within days has made that impact that we were hoping for.”

One client was in crisis and suicidal, and McKane says she connected that person with Addiction and Mental Health Services-Kingston.

“They can have a waiting list but for the most part, if they assess the situation, they’ll try and squeeze people in as quickly as possible but they also have a crisis team that you can call 24 hours a day.

McKane is now working with that client, developing a long-term plan to address the challenges they are facing.

McKane is also developing a series of seminars based on input from Martha’s Table’s clients.

“The need I’m seeing the most right now in the last week has been housing. There’s been a lot of people complaining about housing and that’s their big issue, so we’re really hoping we can get a workshop running for housing assistance,” she said.

Hiring a new social support worker was only made possible through a $25,000 grant from the City of Kingston and the United Way’s Community Investment Fund.

Bhavana Varma, the local United Way president, says many agencies and charities are struggling to cope with increasingly complex social issues.

“These grants provide agencies an opportunity to pilot things to test them out or come to us when there’s an emergent need they weren’t aware of.”

Martha’s Table is eligible for one more year of funding through the United Way and the city. After that, they’ll have to find the money themselves if they want to make the program self-sustaining.

Candy says the work is already beginning to make the social support worker position a permanent one.

“We do have goals to extend the program. We’re going to do fundraising so we’re going to be working hard to find funds to continue this.”

Martha’s Table serves almost 50,000 meals every year and now connects people in the community to services they need.