By Curtis Galbraith

Community

“Wall-to-wall people” in Wapiti House, St. Lawrence Centre says one official

Dec 21, 2022 | 6:00 AM

Officials say Wapiti House and the St. Lawrence Centre are very busy in the cold weather

Project lead with the Wapiti Community Support Association Jared Gossen says both places have “wall-to-wall people.”

“Folks seem to be getting along pretty well. Thankfully, there has been some really great municipal and provincial financial support to make sure people are kept out of the cold but then also fed and afforded some creature comforts as well.”

Gossen says people are going “above and beyond” to get along, even with long lines for the bathroom and the cramped conditions.

He adds both places have been much busier since the Oasis Warning Shelter closed.

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Gossen says the demand has been huge.

He says visits per day usually number between 110 and 120 at the St. Lawrence Centre with all emergency space at both filled.

“I would say there would maybe be through the cold snap a handful of extra folks, or we’d be over capacity or at capacity maybe a couple nights of the year in past years.”

“Now, we’ve been at capacity if not a few percentage points over for a few weeks now.”

Gossen says they are working on some other options but there are a lot of factors to consider.

He says one of those is managing behaviours; something that has become more prevalent since the onset of the opioid epidemic in 2015. Overdoses are also a factor to consider.

When asked if they needed anything from the community Gossen says “everybody is a lot happier when they’re fed.”

“We do have a once-daily meal, hot meal basically, and then all kinds of snacks and different things during the day but we could probably never have enough of that.”

“Single-serve or homemade items tend to be OK in a drop-in environment. Most of the folks aren’t too picky. We usually say if you’re comfortable serving it to your family, then it’s likely appropriate to serve to our visitors at the St. Lawrence Centre.”

Gossen adds they can never have enough gloves, mittens, socks, and underwear. They can also use personal care and hygiene items; the kind of things people find in their bathroom at home