Outreach programs at the Mustard Seed food bank and street church have been temporarily shut down due to safety and staffing concerns.
The services include a Friday- and Saturday-night meal service, which fed about 100 people each day, and the weekday drop-in centre, which included access to the clothing bank, wellness room, and coffee and bread services.
Recent acts of violence and increased drug use, combined with limited staff, prompted the service suspension, said executive director Colin Tessier.
“We had to make the hard decision of a temporary stoppage to some of our front-line services,” Tessier said.
“There are some things children shouldn’t be around.”
The meal service launched about six years ago, while the drop-in centre has operated in some form for about 10 years, Tessier said. The five-day-a-week food bank and the family centre, which offers nutrition education, will continue to operate. Both are operating over capacity, he said.
The service suspensions took effect Oct. 31, when clients and volunteers were told. But the decision had been considered for weeks, Tessier said.
Tessier said that as the Mustard Seed has grown over the past few years to meet increasing needs, resources have become thinly spread. The Mustard Seed has 23 full-time paid staff and hundreds of volunteers.
“We’re challenged in that we have a very broad demographic. We’re trying to serve everyone, from street-entrenched homeless to seniors and families, in a very small space.”
Tessier said he hopes the temporary closing will be for “weeks not months,” while the Mustard Seed re-evaluates how it can better offer the services.
The reopening will likely be staggered, he said. “The biggest thing for us is that we don’t want to just be offering emergency services. We want to meet those emergency needs and have a clear strategy in how we’re going to walk people forward in their lives.”
The Queens Avenue centre was quiet Tuesday afternoon. A notice about the closings was posted on the door and a few volunteers and clients lingered outside.
One woman, who did not want to give her name, said she was disappointed by the shutdown. She said she has been homeless for four years and ate at the Friday-night dinners. “It’s a nice atmosphere. You get a china plate and a real metal fork and can talk to people,” she said, holding a bicycle stacked with empty returnable bottles.
The temporary closing of the Mustard Seed programs could put pressure on other service providers. Our Place on Pandora Avenue already offers three meals a day, serving up to 1,800 meals a day last month.
Communications director Grant McKenzie said Our Place has seen a huge increase in demand this year, but has the capacity to deal with additional clients from the Mustard Street closing.
“People have their own places that they like to go,” McKenzie said. “So when they close, it can be distressing. Hopefully, they find Our Place welcoming.”
