With extreme cold ahead, Sudbury groups provide support for the vulnerable
The bitter winter wind is expected to feel much colder, leading to an extreme cold alert being issued for Sudbury.
When temperatures dip down to -15 or -20 with the wind chill, the Greater Sudbury works with the Homelessness Network and their six agencies to offer additional support for those who don’t have a place to get warm.
“It’s obviously going to be the coldest night of the year so far this winter,” said Raymond Landry, Homelessness Network coordinator.
“Our outreach van will be out there for sure. The warming station at the Samaritan Centre will be open for sure. We will encourage our team to fill every available bed of the shelter, for women and for men.”
The Homelessness Network said outreach workers will be driving in their van to communicate and help the city’s most vulnerable to give them what they need to stay warm or give them a ride to a warming centre.
Since the pandemic began, the need for services has increased and continues with the high cost of living.
“People with the economy have grown poorer, so they have less access to resources, there’s more food bank use, more food being used at the Samaritan centre, more need for the services and more use,” Landry said.
A city spokesperson said since last year, it’s been able to take steps to address the growing need and there are beds available for those who need them.
“We implemented an additional shelter program last year as a response to our encampment strategy so we could make sure we had available shelter beds when people wanted them,” Gail Spencer of the City of Greater Sudbury said.
“So far we’ve been doing really well, where we’ve had available shelter beds when people wanted them.”
The Homelessness Network said there are a number of online resources and a few hotline numbers people can call if they don’t have a place to stay.
With extreme cold like this, the message is to ask for help, if you need it.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Budget 2023 prioritizes pocketbook help and clean economy, deficit projected at $40.1B
In the 2023 federal budget, the government is unveiling continued deficit spending targeted at Canadians' pocketbooks, public health care and the clean economy.

Freeland's green economy spending aimed at competing with U.S. Inflation Reduction Act
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland says clean energy and green technology spending may not have been the big-ticket items of the 2023 federal budget if it weren’t for the need to compete with infrastructure spending in the United States.
Federal government capping excise tax on alcohol after outcry
The increase in excise duties on all alcoholic products is being temporarily capped at two per cent starting next month instead of a planned 6.3 per cent increase.
opinion | The gun control debate in America has been silenced
In the wake of another deadly mass shooting in America, that saw children as young as nine years old shot and killed, the gun control debate is going nowhere, writes CTV News political analyst Eric Ham.
Was Stonehenge a giant calendar? New research suggests maybe not
Stonehenge's purpose has long been a mystery, with some researchers proposing that it may have been an ancient solar calendar. But now, new analysis suggests the calendar theory is unsubstantiated.
Kids would rather learn from smart robots than less-smart humans: new study
A new study published by Canadian researchers suggests that kindergarten-age children would rather be taught by a competent robot than an incompetent human.
‘Using waste material makes sense’: Mysterious artist Junko turns trash into giant sculptures
A mysterious, Montreal-based street artist named Junko is generating buzz in Metro Vancouver with futuristic, bug-like sculptures made from old car parts, scrap metal and tossed out shoes.
New research finds subtle brain changes in pre-symptomatic Alzheimer’s patients
A new peer-reviewed study from the Medical University of South Carolina report in Brain Connectivity has found individualized brain fingerprints which can help diagnose early Alzheimer's disease.
Hamilton family raising awareness about Strep A after sudden death of toddler
A Hamilton, Ont., family is hoping to raise awareness about Strep A after the tragic death of their two-year-old.