While it’s not officially winter for a few more weeks, southern Alberta is expected to see its fair share of cold and snow to kick off the month of November.
Organizations like Streets Alive accept donations to help the less fortunate all year, but are seeing an escalating need right now.
“The volume and the number of people in Lethbridge has increased dramatically on the street,” said program director Cameron Kissick.
“The demand is very high so we still are in need of more items.”
They’re looking for things like waterproof jackets to protect against the wet snow, base layers, toques, and gloves.
Kissick is confident the community will step up to support the need, despite potential difficulties with the current cost of living increases many Albertans are struggling with.
“The community of Lethbridge always steps up regardless of their own situation, and we are hopeful that we will get what we need to continue providing services to the less fortunate.”
For the Lethbridge Soup Kitchen, donations and volunteers are key.
According to executive director Bill Ginther, around 90 per cent of the food the group receives is by donation. The rest, they have to buy.
The longstanding non-profit serves three hot meals per day and Ginther is anticipating their numbers to go up as the season progresses.
“We find that Lethbridge is known to be a little milder than Calgary and Edmonton and other parts of the country, so we tend to see some migration to our city during the winter months,” he explained.
“My heart goes out to people sleeping outside.”
“There is definitely a need for more resources for vulnerable people in Lethbridge, and I think that becomes more apparent during the winter months,” Kathy Christiansen said.
Christiansen, executive director of Alpha House, said the Lethbridge Shelter and Stabilization Centre is provincially funded to have a capacity of 88.
“Last year was a very cold winter,” she recalled. “We operated 24/7 and we were over full for most of the winter as well.”
In order to deal with that overflow, Christiansen said they are looking into the possibility of hiring more staff.
The Blood Tribe Department of Health is set to take over operations of the facility in January, after ongoing discussions with the province found bringing in BTDH would mean being able to provide appropriate services for the largely Indigenous population accessing them.
“(The transition) is happening in the winter (but) both operators are very aware of the need to do that well,” Christiansen added.
Additionally, the City of Lethbridge took part in a Point in Time (PiT) count of the homeless population on Sept. 27, with the goal of providing a “snapshot” of the local homeless situation.
Those findings are expected to be publicly released in the near future.
According to the city, the 2018 PiT count found 223 individuals experiencing homelessness in Lethbridge.
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