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
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
Fewer medical students going into family medicine contributing to doctor shortage
As some family doctors are retiring and others are moving away from family medicine, there are fewer medical students to take their place.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
Bodies found by U.S. authorities searching for missing B.C. kayakers
United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.
'It's discriminatory': Individuals refused entry to Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
Competition bureau finds 'substantial' anti-competitive effects with proposed Bunge-Viterra merger
The proposed merger of agricultural giants Viterra and Bunge is raising competition concerns from the federal government.
Douglas DC-4 plane with 2 people on board crashes into river outside Fairbanks, Alaska
A Douglas C-54 Skymaster airplane crashed into the Tanana River near Fairbanks on Tuesday, Alaska State Troopers said.
BREAKING Mounties will not be charged in shooting death of B.C. Indigenous man
Three Mounties in British Columbia will not face charges in the killing of a 38-year-old Indigenous man on Vancouver Island in 2021.
College students, inmates and a nun: A unique book club meets at one of America's largest jails
An unconventional book club inside one of America's largest jails brings college students and inmates together to tackle books that resonate with the mostly Black and Latino group members.