‘That’s like gold’: Anonymous donor gifts 500 winter coats to Montreal shelter

It was a busy morning at the Welcome Hall Mission’s warehouse in Montreal on Tuesday.

Employees were busy sifting through stacked boxes filled with brand new winter coats — 500 to be exact.

The coats were being organized by size and the designated recipients; men, women or children.

“A lot of people are going to be very happy when we can get this out to them,” said Welcome Hall Mission CEO Sam Watts.

2:02 Where can unhoused Montrealers turn to escape cold?

According to Watts, clients needs extend beyond the basic necessities.

“People who come into our shelters and various emergency facilities, not only do they need food and a place to stay but they also need good warm clothing,” he said.

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“That’s one of the reasons we are very pleased  to get this very large donation of free coats.”

Watts said the donor, who wishes to remain anonymous, reached out to the mission after a story by Global News aired and was published online last week.

The story focused on measures put in place to help unhoused Montrealers as a polar vortex descended upon the city.

“Getting coats right now, that’s like gold. We can put it to use right away,” Watts said on Tuesday.

While the exact number of people who are currently unhoused in the city is not known, Watts said needs are growing.

“It’s always in evolution and it’s very hard to pin that down,” he said.

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“One of the things that we know is that there are more people coming in to homelessness than going out, so that’s creating a backlog in the system of emergency services.”

Watts added there has also been a shift in clientele recently in that asylum seekers, many coming from the United States through unofficial points of entry, are increasing in numbers.

“It’s a concern that we have, we are seeing it grow and it’s increasingly causing us to have to shift some resources around,” he said.

Beyond addressing emergency needs, Watts said to effectively tackle the issue of homelessness, the time one spends being unhoused must be reduced.

“So what we should be doing is more prevention upstream and providing supportive housing downstream,” he said.